


your lipstick stain is a work of art

by quotationmarks



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Karlie Kloss - Fandom, Little Mix (Band), Lorde (Musician), One Direction (Band), Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: !!!!!, (secretly so does Harry), AND NAILS, AND NICE CLOTHES, AND WEARS HEELS, Anyways, BUT SASSY, Cross Dresser Louis, EVERYTHING IS IN LOWERCASE, HE DOES HIS OWN MAKE UP, I MEANT TO DO THAT, If Karlie Kloss/Taylor Swift is illegal then lock up up, Jesy is naturally the best friend, Like, M/M, Or overly innocent like some fics like this portray him as, Submissive, Ugh, WHAT MORE CAN I GIVE, and a little drama, and also ruins Harry's clothes, and drives an old beat up truck, and so much fluff, but I'm having fun, but Louis isn't fragile, but imagine Louis in a cute flowey dress, but nothing to jeopardize their relationship, cross dresser, cute indie boy harry, he wears a fedora, he wears girls clothes but he identifies as male, i love those, i though it was cute, louis - Freeform, louis buys really expensive shoes, louis likes his nails done, not that there's anything wrong with those, okay just focus on cutesy little dress wearing Louis with cutesy little rice farmer looking harry, really imagine, the voice of reason - Freeform, this whole thing could be utter crap, what more do you want
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4302852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quotationmarks/pseuds/quotationmarks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>louis is simply a hipster. but, he likes girl’s clothing. so. </p><p>anyway; harry is an indie style boy who is mostly seen driving around the town in his beat up truck (it’s endearing), or sitting in the back of the local library, his face hidden by a book and his - classic - fedora.</p><p>when they - inevitably - meet, it is by louis slamming into a surprised, and clumsy harry. </p><p>once louis has ran off, harry notices the lipstick smear on his shirt, and finds that he can’t get it to wash out… but that’s okay, because he considers it to be a work of art.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

story title: your lipstick stain is a work of art

 

plot: crossdresser louis tomlinson runs into harry styles, and louis' lipstick stains his shirt. but, harry thinks the stain could fit perfectly in an art gallery, so. no hard feelings. just... other feelings.

________

introduction

⚥

louis remembers where this all started. 

he was seven years old, him and his mum were at some random drug store, looking at mascaras and eye shadows that could be a small gift for his older sister, lottie's, birthday. louis felt his heart beating quickly in his little chest seeing all of the pretty colors you could decorate your face and nails with. he sighed in envy over the fact that he was - in fact - a boy. and boys don't wear girl's stuff. 

jay turned around at the disgruntled sound her young son made and looked down at him, expecting to see him huffy and bored out of his mind, ready to leave the girl's things, but she was surprised to see him eyeing a light green nail polish. "do you think lottie would like that, honey?," she asked, and a wave of jealousy waved through louis again - his snotty big sister was going to get what he wanted. 

he nodded anyway, if he couldn't wear it, then at least somebody he knew could. "mum," he says as jay takes the bottle off the little rack. 'hm?,' she hummed, picking up a blue eyeshadow kit. "i wish i was a girl, i think," he had said. jay dropped the make-up in surprise and looked back down at louis. 

she winced at the splintering sound it made, but got down on her knees to look louis at eye-level. "why do you think you wanna be a girl, love?," she asked soothingly, and louis shrugged. 

"i don't know if i wanna be a girl... i just... i like the make-ups and the polishes and they get cute clothes...," he said, using his hands to try and visualize to his mother his problem. she smiled at him softly and started picking up the broken make-up set. she ran her hand through his soft hair when she was done. 

"you don't have to be a girl to like those things, honey. who says you can't paint your fingernails?," she asks, booping his button nose. 

he opened his mouth to tell her, but couldn't really recall. it's just something that he's been taught. "i..."

"exactly. so how about you get lots a different color and i'll help you paint your nails this lovely green color once we get home?," she said and louis' face lit up. he quickly grabbed the yellow beside where the green was and drug his mum to the front of the store, to the check-out.


	2. Chapter 2

⚥

jesy sighs, for the eighth - she's counting - time and taps the tops of her boots on the tiles of louis' bedroom. "lou," she hums, tapping impatiently at the bathroom door, kicking dirty clothes away from her feet. "louis, c'mon, we're going to be late for school - again - if you don't hurry up!," she complains, picking up one of the shirts off the floor. "i thought this looked familiar!," she huffs, "louis, this is my shirt"

opening the door after a few quiet moments, louis steps out, and, as usual, a burst of sweet smelling air circles him, wafting around the room. "i couldn't get my hair to swirl right at first," he shrugs, snatching the shirt out of jesy's hands. "and you left this there, it's fair game. plus, it's really cool," he smiles, and she rolls her eyes. 

crossing her arms, she follows him across the room. "are you planning to clothe yourself?," she asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks down at his bare, tan chest. he looks down at the shirt and grins, causing the ninth sigh to leave jesy's mouth. he jogs over to his wardrobe and pulls out a skin tight black shirt, wrestling it on over his hair. 

tying jesy's red flannel around his lithe hips, he turns to her, lifting one foot up. "what do you think would go with this?," he asks her, and she groans, looking around the room, trying to look around the mess. "what about my black heels?," he asks, and she nods quickly. they're on a schedule here. 

she nods in approval as he grabs the shoes from under his bed and shovels his feet into them, they go quite well with what he's wearing. "harry will love this getup, lou," jesy picks at him, knowing the distaste louis has for the boy. 

louis shoves jesy by the shoulder as he grabs his book pouch and she squawks. "as if," he rolls his eyes, "that boy is a total hick" 

that causes jesy to bubble in laughter as she fixes her hair from the disheveled state it settled in from louis' shove. "he's not a hick, dumbarse. he's just... he's into the simpler things. and i guess it makes him look dirty," she shrugs and louis scoffs, opening the door and stepping onto the porch, wincing as he realizes that it's rained.

❁

❁

❁

he feels wicked jealous of jesy about right now. she only has a 6:30 class and she's out until 2:10. 

at the sound of the professor's expo marker hitting the table across the room, he blinks out of his reservoir and licks his red painted lips, looking around to make sure nobody saw him zoned out. people pick on him quite enough as it is. professor terrance is still talking - about the wonders of the renaissance - and louis sighs. this is uni, they learned about the renaissance in grade nine.

so, that's how his class goes. 

he has to constantly shove people away as they pull at his skirt or try to poke his red lips. they think louis is insecure and doesn't know who he is, that that will make him easy, but none of that is true. he is as muscular as any boy and he's very comfortable with who he is. 

the boy beside him - column (???) - pokes him with the eraser part of his mechanical pencil and louis looks at him, a neutral expression on his face when he sees it's nobody bad. "yes...?," he whispers, not eager to get yelled at by professor terrance, who is, by the way, extremely loud. 

"calum," says the boy with a chuckle, louis smiles at him. it's always nice to not be either ridiculed or molested. "do you have any lead my mate harry could borrow? he's being shy - hey don't slap!," calum says, scowling at the blushing boy on the other side of him. louis looks around the tan boy and barely makes eye contact with the boy before he looks away. harry styles, of course. 

then, it strikes louis. is he looking away because he's disgusted with how louis is? probably. they've never properly spoken, and louis can't deny that he judges harry, though he's never outwardly said anything where it could get back to harry. and, in regards of being judged, it happens quite often, him getting picked on. it doesn't hurt any less no matter how much it happens. "um, sure," louis says, taking the eraser off his own pencil, giving calum a piece of lead from it, slowly. 

with deft fingers, calum pricks the lead from it, and louis brings his arm back to himself. "thanks, dude," calum smiles, handing harry the piece of lead. louis smiles at him with his lips in a straight line. 

he turns back to focus on the lesson. "no, problem," he says, putting the eraser back on the end of his pencil. 

louis has to drag himself through his classes after that one. nothing out of the usual. he can make it through his 9 and 10 classes no problem, but he tires of it after 10. he sighs in relief as the final bell rings. it doesn't take long for him to get out of the room - he has all of his stuff loaded and ready to go. 

what always happens to him happens, though. 

everyone shoves him away from the door and a few touch his face just to be rude as they shove him away. he sighs and looks down, even the professor gets out before he does. but something happens to him that hasn't happened yet. 

he rams face first into some hard-chested man, his head bowed still. they both fall down and louis' pretty sure his heel broke. "oops! i'm so sorry, miss!," says the man, rising up and stopping right in front of louis' face. it's hick-boy, harry styles, from second block. he blushes brighter than he did in class and louis can see him swallow. "o - or sir... what do you want me to call you?," he whispers, his eyes so wide.

louis scoffs. "hi, and, uh, well... i'm a boy, believe it or not. but most people call me louis... amongst other things... but i'd rather you just call me louis," he smiles, feeling kind of guilty for always being so rude to someone who seems as nice as harry is being, and harry laughs quietly, seemingly less nervous. 

he suddenly rises his hand to touch louis' face and he flinches and closes his eyes, distasteful for people to touch his face now, after all of the manhandling. "well, louis, your lipstick is smeared. let me fix it?," he says calmly, and louis peeks one eye opened. he steadies himself from the knocked over position he's still in and sits on his calves, as to not flash the poor boy. 

after a moment, he nods slowly and harry licks his thumb, bringing it back up to louis' face. louis blinks as his large finger swirls around his lips, not actually touching them, but cleaning him up. "thank you," he whispers, wonderstruck by the - strikingly, and surprisingly - handsome boy in front of him. 

out of the blue, harry says, "you're very pretty," and both of their eyes widen in utter surprise at his loose tongue. louis' cheeks redden and he shakily, but quickly, stands up, smoothing his pants down quickly. it's black and dirt sticks to it. 

"t-thank you, harry... i appreciate it very much 一 a lot. but i gotta go, my roommate is probably worried sick 一 oh god jesy is going to hammer me," louis stammers, his blood draining from his red face. he smiles at harry fleetingly and takes off at a jog, his heel definitely broken. 

harry looks after him sadly. who is jesy?, he wonders jealously, he's probably his boyfriend... he sighs and slumps to the ground again, covering his face with his hands, the sound of louis' heels clicking the ground fading until it's silent.

⚥

louis taps his bare foot as he waits for the lift to get to his floor. he knows jesy is going to be teed off and jesy is kinda terrifying when she gets protective. the lift stops with its classic shady jolt and louis bolts out of it as soon as the doors are opened, apologizing to his neighbors as he runs by them. 

he sighs in defeat when he reaches 7H. the door is cracked open and jesy only leaves the door cracked as a warning to louis that he's in for it when he gets home. "jes? i'm home!," louis shouts, dumping his heels on the table. maybe leigh-anne could fix them, she's a miracle worker with these things and those shoes were £250. 

when he doesn't get a reply, he knows he's really in for it. with only three rooms to the whole flat, it's generally easy to find someone. he peeks in their conjoined bedroom with no luck, opens the bathroom to find it empty, and trudges into the living-room sadly, his head hung. 

so here he finds her. britain's next top model paused on the tv. she's facing him with raised eyebrows and crossed arms. he sighs. she paused b.n.t.m.. "where have you been?," she says strictly. louis would be annoyed with her if he wasn't treated the way he is and if she didn't know the way that he's treated. 

he plops down on the couch and smiles when jesy's shirt flows down around him. he really like this shirt. jesy's cough makes him look up guiltily. "i broke a heel. and a boy helped me up. i missed my bus because i was late, and now i'm here," he says, purposefully leaving out certain details. 

it's like she can smell secrets. "details," she demands.

louis blushes a little and smiles and jesy's demeanor calms down knowing that he wasn't fallen victim of anything. "i accidentally knocked into a boy, his name's... okay! it was harry, and we fell. literally. my heel broke and my lipstick smeared. he, um, he fixed it for me. and he was gentle, he didn't grab at me like everyone else does. he - ha - he told me that he thinks i'm pretty and i ran off," louis says, twisting the material of his shirt between his fingers. 

jesy squawks at him and slaps his arm. "you goon! a decent guy finally takes notice in you and you bolt? genius!," she scoffs, turning away from him and pressing play on the remote. louis chuckles quietly to himself and agrees with her, rubbing at his stinging arm. 

he wants to say something else, maybe about the fact that he couldn't even stand the bloke 5 hours ago, but he doesn't. "i'm going to the room," he says instead, and jesy waves her hand in the air. louis scowls at her and goes back to their bedroom, immediately shuffling through his side of the wardrobe for some nightly wear. he's not going straight to bed, it's only five o'clock, but he's gonna sleep in whatever he changes into. "hey, jes, do you know where my killers shirt is - never mind, it's right here!," louis calls, taking off his blouse first. 

he sighs in relief, removing the tight shirt he wore today. it's very pretty, but kind of uncomfortable to wear for extended amounts of time. he unties the flannel from his waist and throws it back onto the floor. he takes off his trousers next, with a minor struggle, and decides to go pant-less for tonight. it's nothing jesy isn't used to. 

he puts the used clothes in the dirty basket (surprise!) and goes to the bathroom across from their room and takes his make-up wipe pouch, cleaning his face before going back into their room and climbing into his bed and under his covers, going on netflix automatically to watch supernatural, which is quickly becoming his religion.

he smiles as the awkward angel named castiel comes onto screen. he yawns and bunkers down in his blanket, happier than usual. it's because of harry, treating him as something human, which means a hell of a lot to some one treated like a stray animal. 

he lays his head down and wakes up to jesy violently shaking him around. "wake... up! your morning class starts in fifteen minutes!," she says between shakes. louis' eyes widen once he's registered her words and she flies backwards as he springs up. 

"i don't have time for a shower!," he groggily groans, shuffling past jesy, "'m borrowing some of your stuff" she nods like she doesn't care. she squawks at him as he starts stripping right there and she leaves the room as he throws on one of her form fitting t-shirts, plain black. he rolls on a pair of skinny jeans that lay on the floor and grabs his vans. he nicks one of her beanies while he's at it and whizzes by her, "no time for breakfast, no time for make up," he complains, putting a piece of gum in his mouth for the morning breath. "bye love!," he shouts, slamming the door after him.

❁

❁

❁

louis - for once - gets off the bus without hassle. nobody grabbed at his bottom, nobody touched his face, nobody did anything to him. he loads off at the uni with a happy step. on his way to his locker, he catches the glances and hears the murmurs, though he can't tell what they're saying. can they tell that these pants are unwashed?, he frets, looking down at the fabric of his jeans. he jumps when a hand lands on his shoulder and he half way expects something bad to happen. instead he turns around to face a confused calum, harry behind him. he's not looking at him. "um, yes?," he asks lightly.

"you look different, lou," calum says, furrowing his dark eyebrows. louis furrows his too, looking down at himself in confusion, putting the pieces together. 

"i, um, i woke up too late to do my make-up and all of my preferred clothes are in the tumble," he explains, and harry looks up at him, his cheeks rosy. louis looks at his outfit (a the kooks band shirt paired with some absolutely shredded jeans). he swallows and smiles at him, waywardly hoping that he hasn't missed out on a great catch. "do you want to walk to class together?"

louis directed the question to harry, but calum jumps right on it, completely oblivious. "sure, mate. i think harry would love that," he smirks and louis' heart flutters. all that's gotta happen is for him to make a move, louis thinks happily, ecstatic to feel wanted by someone. he's never the one to initiate, he's found out very easily that that's not his virtue.

gesturing to his shirt, harry looks over at louis. "you know that lip stuff does not come out of clothes," he says as they make their way. louis' a little surprised by his bluntness, but he did call him pretty just yesterday. his eyes widen in panic. 

"did some get on you when i fell? i'm so sorry - i'll buy you a new shir -"

"no, it's okay! it's okay. it's stained by a memory now. i like the stain, it's nice," he says and he huffs when calum slaps him over the head and mutters 'smooth'. he crosses his arms with his books over his chest and pouts, letting out a long, "heeeeey" louis giggles at him and he smiles again, opening the door for him when they get to the class. calum goes in first, though, and harry rolls his eyes at his best mate, smiling at louis as he goes through. 

harry pales a little when he sees that cal took his seat from yesterday, he can't keep his cool with louis for the 90 minutes the class lasts! he doesn't even know if he has a chance, he's still chafed about 'jesy'. he, nonetheless, sits down beside louis and ignores calum's smirk. louis' eyes widen and he blushes darkly when his stomach proper growls at him. he looks over at the two boys in embarrassment. "kinda missed supper and breakie," he chuckles, pulling a sack of pretzels out of his binder, trying to open them as quietly as he can. 

harry looks at him in concern. so far, he's changed his appearance and he's not eating. he can't help but worry for him, to ache to talk to him properly. he's just so tongue tied and very blunt and that's mortifying, especially if he has a boyfriend. "would you like to go to the café down the street with us during lunch hour?," harry asks hopefully and freezes as louis stops mid chew. he doesn't say anything for a moment, he just contemplates. 

then he nods and smiles a little. "sure," he says, shrugging his shoulders, putting the pretzels up as the professor enters. 

❁

❁

❁

though neither of them say it, both of them are counting down the minutes until lunch form. when he is released from the class right before it, louis stands up slowly, not wanting a repeat of yesterday. he slowly puts his books together as he waits for everyone to file out and he squeaks in surprise when he bumps into a person, again. 

he looks up and swallows. this is definitely not harry or calum, it's one of the footballers, he has on his team jersey. "you look different today, tommo?," he says coyly. he's one of those sickeningly attractive guys, louis thinks his name is theo something. "finally get tired of playing dress up?," he smirks and louis' jaw sets. 

"i'm not playing anything. and i didn't have enough time to get dressed this morning," louis says, bringing his books up to his hip. theo scoffs at louis' dismissive attitude and he steps in front of him as he tries to walk around him. "please let be get by," he says quietly, shutting his eyes as the jock touches his face. "please don't touch me," he whispers, backing into the lockers. 

theo just smirks and steps forward until he is nearly pressed up against the smaller boy, and he yelps loudly when he is suddenly tore away. "he said to leave him alone," a familiar voice growls and louis opens his eyes, surprised to see the usually mild looking harry looking awfully angry. 

"dude, chill," theo rolls his eyes and narrows his eyes cold at louis, who is cowering into himself. nothing much out of usual. harry catches that and steps in front of louis, who reaches forward to pull his fingers through the belt loop's of harry's jeans. harry keens into him a little in comfort. 

"dude, no," harry scowls, pointing towards the end of the hallway. "you better be glad i stopped you before you did anything to him that you would definitely regret," harry says, standing rigid as theo takes a step forward, looking at him incredulously. 

"dude! he's a freak! boys don't wear girl's -"

"theo! go!," harry spits and the shorter boy rolls his eyes and leaves, grumbling. harry ignores him and looks at louis with concern in his eyes. "are you okay?," he asks, and louis lets him cup his jaw and cheeks. he nods slowly and harry sighs in relief. "what he said isn't true, you know? you aren't a freak. you're lovely, and you are who you are. that is so brave. i wish i was as brave as you,"


	3. Chapter 3

⚥

with still shaky fingers, louis unlocks his locker, mouthing his combination silently. 

harry stands off to the side, watching him fondly. it's not unknown to him that louis has never really been able to stand him, but he figures that it's just because he hasn't meet him, and his whole life has been centered around judgement, and harry figures that's all he knows. 

louis uses his arm-strength to shovel the large uni books into his locker, he refused harry's assistance. he makes sure not to cover his purse, which has his back-up make-up in it. "where's calum?," louis asks, spitting around, shutting his locker behind his back. 

harry blinks a few times before focusing. "he'll be waiting for us at my truck, i usually drive us to lunch," he says, looking at the things in louis' hands quickly. "is that all you're bringing?," he asks, and louis nods his head, shrugging the long strapped bag over his shoulder, smoothing down his hair with his hands. 

harry's hands twitch as they walk, and louis looks down at his feet, kind of embarrassed that harry had to witness what happened earlier. he sighs under his breath and crosses his arms over his chest. "miss straisner is going to proper murder me when i get to her class," louis murmurs, trying to make some type of conversation. harry looks over at him, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black jumper. 

harry hums a chuckle. "how come?," he asks, opening the door for louis, who steps out into the cool air with a small shiver. 

"i missed her class yesterday, i went home and fell asleep at, like, one o'clock and was literally forced awake by my roommate at six this morning. it was an 'extremely important' lesson, apparently," he sighs, shrugging his shoulders. harry's eyebrows lift at the mention of louis' roommate again, and he bites at the side of his cheek. "so, this is your truck?," louis asks, spotting calum, who is sat in the front passenger seat, typing away on his phone. 

louis, literally, never would've imagined that he would get anywhere near the inside of harry's truck. it's old, brown, dirty looking, and it's harry-chic. not louis' ideal vehicle, but as long as it doesn't break down, he can deal. "yeah, she was my, um, she was my dad's...," harry says, his voice dropping at the end. louis nods quietly, he doesn't feel like he knows harry well enough to press the matter. 

calum, looking up from his mobile, notices harry and louis approaching the car. he opens his door and climbs out with a grin on his face. "hey, lou-bird," he smiles, and harry gives him a stern look at the nickname. he looks down, though, as louis giggles faintly, shaking his head with a grin on his lips, that look much softer without the lipstick on them. "you wanna ride shotgun?," calum asks, wiggling his eyebrows at harry as louis looks down at his bag, shuffling through it for his wallet, making sure he has money. 

louis shakes his head quickly, and looks up, his hand still in his bag. "i don't wanna take your spot," he says softly, and calum scoffs and louis' eyes widen. 

"don't worry about it," calum chuckles, and louis straightens up, wallet in hand, and looks at harry as calum tumbles into the backseat. harry furrows his eyebrows and looks at louis with a shrug. reaching forward, harry opens louis' door and goes around before louis can blink. he opens his own door and climbs into the driver's seat. he can't believe he just did that, and he also can't believe that he's actually getting louis tomlinson into his truck. "are we going to azmerelda's?," calum asks as louis climbs in and shuts the door. 

louis nearly groans. azmerelda's is the local country styled joint. there's deer heads on the walls and old photos hanging around. louis is more into places with colorful lights and graffiti on the walls, but they still look clean and classy. there's one on the other end of town that his and jesy's high-school friend owns like that, but there's rarely enough time to go all the way across town. 

harry, sensing that louis has zoned out, touches his shoulder lightly, causing him to blink several times in surprise. "mm, yes?," he asks, his cheeks pink from embarrassing himself in front of - basically - strangers. harry smiles at him with a lighthearted chuckle and he cools down a little bit. 

"i asked if azmerelda's was okay with you? they serve the best tea and chocolate cake there," harry tells him, reversing the car, driving around the parking lot towards the exit. 

louis didn't know they sold tea there. "well, tea and cake... you've sold me," he smiles, nodding.

❁

❁

❁

calum jumps out first, kicking up a few of the little gravels that make up the parking lot of ezmerelda's. louis reaches for his bag, which is beside his feet, and picks it up and swings it over his shoulder. by the time he's raised back up and reached for the handle, harry has already opened his door for him. louis smiles at him bashfully and climbs down the high truck by the foot grip at the bottom. 

calum kicks a pebble out of his way as they start walking, then he turns around, walking backwards, to talk to them. "so, lou-bird, do you know what you'll get?," calum asks, missing the quick mischievous glance he gives to harry and the annoyed and jealous one harry gives back. 

louis shrugs, putting his hands in his back pockets. "i think i'll just have some tea," he says, shrugging his shoulders. harry makes a noise of disapproval and louis looks up at him in confusion. "what?"

"you said you missed supper and breakfast? you'll need to get more than just a cup of tea," harry says, rolling his eyes. louis' cheeks begin to burn, and harry looks up at calum in confusion.

"i - i, um, i didn't bring enough money," he stutters, and harry sighs in relief. 

he chuckles faintly and louis looks at him in confusion. "i'll pay for your meal, it's not a big deal," he says, smiling this big smile with straight teeth and pink lips and dimples and. okay. 

having to drag himself through his dazed reservoir, louis shakes his head. "i can't ask you to do that," he says, he tries to sound stern, but he does feel very fatigued. harry gives him one purposeful look and he gives up, nodding with a sigh. "please don't spend a lot," he says, and harry shrugs, he's not making any promises. 

as soon as they get into the café, the nippy october air turns into a warm, sweet scented breeze. they barely stand there for a moment before a tiny waitress comes to escort them to their table. her name tag spells 'perrie', and her hair is bright purple. like. bright purple. "table for three?," she smiles, and harry nods, looking almost captivated by perrie. or, perrie's hair, more like.

calum coughs nonchalantly and elbows harry in the arm, gesturing to louis, who does look a smudge chaffed. so harry turn his attetion back to louis, who gives a faint huff. "what do you want to eat, sweets?," harry asks, and louis' reservations fall back down again, his cheeks redden at the soft term of endearment.

he shrugs his shoulders and blushes darker as harry steps forward to pull his chair out for him. he isn't quite sure if he's trying to court him, or if he's just being gentlemanly.

perrie hands him one of the menus, and he does have to agree her hair looks pretty cool. "thank you," he smiles, taking the laminated piece of paper. he purses him lips together as he looks around. he feels mighty exposed without his make-up on. he feels disheveled, like he doesn't look as good as he could. "i'm going to the restroom," he says quickly, grabbing his bag from behind the chair. 

"okay - ," harry barely gets out before louis has rushed off, nearly covering his whole face with his hands. with concerned eyes, harry quickly looks over to calum, who looks just as concerned, his dark eyebrows pulled downwards in confusion. "that was... odd...," he says, and calum nods. after a few moments, harry's face breaks a little. "do you think i should go after him?," he asks, unsure, and calum shakes his head for a moment, and then thinks on it, and then nods. 

"it'd be a good idea," he says, then looks up at perrie, who is still standing there. "i'll order for us, just go make sure that he's alright," he adds, and harry's up and headed towards the restroom without a moment to spare. 

he dodges tables and waiters and even a stuffed rabbit, headed straight for the restroom. he finally gets to it, and he pauses. licking his lips nervously, he opens the door silently. he gasps quietly, and takes a step back. 

across the room, louis is twitching, putting mascara on his eyes, and he looks shaky. "lou?," harry whispers as louis goes to close the bottle of mascara, and it noisily smacks across the ground as he drops it in surprise. louis whimpers at him, and his face crumbles. harry rushes forward in concern and pulls him to his chest, stroking his neck lightly. "sh, sh, don't cry. you'll run your mascara, you just got it put on, lovely," harry says, and louis' breath leaves him, he looks up in confusion. 

with a wobbly lip, he stutters, "how can you even respect me?" and harry chuckles, wiping at the bottoms of his eyes with his thumbs. silently, he goes into louis' make-up back, searching until he finds the specific color he's seen on louis once, maybe twice. it's his favorite. 

he uncaps it, and louis stands pliant as he dabs his lips with the color, he can see them turning light pink from the mirror. after he's done, harry caps it back and puts the stick back into louis' bag, suddenly leaning forward to kiss the top of louis' head. "i'll respect anyone who can make running in heels look easy"

louis smiles at harry bashfully. he feels quite embarrassed that harry had to see him through one of his episodes. though it rarely happens, louis gets so paranoid and insecure that he literally shuts down. and it hit him so quickly just now that he barely made it into the restroom before he was crying. "thank you," he whispers, and harry smiles at him. 

harry's, personally, glad that he hasn't overstepped any boundaries here, putting lipstick on him and kissing his forehead so sweetly, carefully. he does have to say that this light pink makes louis look amazing. he looks absolutely angelic with bare skin, but the light color of the lip balm highlights the softness of his lips and pink color of his cheeks, and the mascara he applied makes his eyes look bigger, making the blue of his eyes stand out more. harry smiles at him softly and louis looks down, awkwardly taking his bag from harry. "how about we go back to the table, hm? i bet calum's already ordered," he smiles and louis nods with a sniffle.

harry - nonchalantly - quickens his pace slightly, stepping in front of louis to open the door for him. he feels sympathetic to the poor lad that he hasn't admitted a crush on yet. it's just... a platonic admiration. and slight possessiveness. and jealousy. that's all. so he leads louis back to the table with his hand on his back, he can feel the juts of his spinal cord. 

calum sees then before they look up to see him, and he smiles. he figures he should start a blog about this, maybe a tumblr. the resident hipster eloping with the town recluse. he's quite the blogger, and with his knowledge on wanting two certain people to be together, he can safely say he ships them. the s.s.... larry. harris? no, that still sounds like harry. houis? calum shakes his head and smiles up at them as they sit down (harry pulling out the chair for louis), and he settles on larry. he'll have to tell niall later. "i got you a tea to drink, lou, and i ordered a medium sausage pizza to share," he smiles, and louis gives a small nod, harry looking down to check his phone. 

"i love tea, but... i'm kinda a vegan," he says guiltily. he doesn't want to be a burden, but he just cant stand to touch anything that came from a sweet, innocent animal. 

"can't you just pick off the meat?," calum asks, handing out the silverware, which are wrapped up in napkins. louis' lip involuntarily twitches and he swallows thickly, giving a hesitant shake if his head. 

"i don't... i can't touch meat... i'm sorry...," he says quietly, embarrassed, and he almost jumps out of his skin as harry touches his shoulder, and he looks over at him. 

he's smiling slightly, and calum and louis see the (un)deniable fond. "it's fine, lou, really. i'll pick the meats and cheeses off for you, and i'll put it in a napkin. out of sight, out of mind, right?," he smiles and louis almost woos. he nods instead, blinking several times. 

he kind of kicks himself in the arse for being a total prick about harry, judging him before. in reality, he's such a sweetheart, and louis almost sighs. but he is undeniably a british hick. louis gathers this information just based off of his and calum's conversation in the car (about some type of farm party held in a barn?) and the type of music they listened to (harry said it was some 'luke bryan' chap's cd). "thank you," louis gives him a wayward smile. he does feel much more confident with his make-up on, he's just glad he didn't freak out at school. speaking of which; "when have you have to be back to uni?," he asks, looking between them. 

harry looks at his phone again, and checks his screen, which has a large crack on it. calum doesn't bother, he doesn't have to be back until two o'clock, he has plenty of time. plus, he really enjoys watching them reacting to one another. "it's wednesday? okay, then at one fifteen. we've got another forty-five minutes," he says and louis' eyebrows shoot up. 

"my next class is at one fifteen, too," he says and harry cracks a bigger smile, nodding his head. 

"we have the class together, miss peters?," he smiles, and louis looks surprised. "yeah, i think you sit between that boy with the black hair and that girl with the really long, brown hair at the front, right? i sit about two rows back," he says, and louis nods. 

"yeah," he laughs, and harry smiles wider, putting his chin on his hand, putting his elbow on the table. "that's kris and jesy, the ones on either side of me," he adds, which only confuses harry. 

the mysterious jesy is in their next class? is jesy the boy or the girl? damn gender neutral names, harry thinks borderline bitterly, running a hand through his hair, then looking up as the pizza is suddenly placed in front of him, put on the table quickly. "sorry, oh oh, it's hot!," perrie says, shaking her hands to try and cool them down, the heat from the pan bled through the thin material of her glove mitt. "i'll be right back with your beverages," she smiles, leaving just as quickly as she came. 

harry looks at the pizza, then up at calum. "why didn't you order drinks first?," he asks and calum scowls at his pickiness. 

"just be glad i didn't order a supreme-grandé meat lovers pizza, eh? they're on the cheap wednesday through thursday, and i don't think you'd wanna see lo - "

"hey, lou, do you want a big or little slice?," harry cuts in, looking at louis, who is looking at him in confusion, obviously harry knew what calum was about to say, so why didn't he want louis to know?

⚥

calum is the first to throw in the towel, more accurately, the crumpled up napkin he's been using. he pokes his belly out in attempt to get comfortable.

louis has been kind of dreading this, the end of the meal. because about halfway through eating, calum suggested going to the strip mall across the road. see, most people don't have much anxiety about shopping with new people, but louis is kind of different. he usually only shops with his mum, sisters, and/or jesy. never other boys, and never people who are basically strangers. and neverevereverever with someone who he is developing a crush on. he just... he doesn't enjoy looking through basic colored polos or football jerseys. he likes going into forever 21 and looking at the sequins and ruffles, laces and flowers. he loves flowery clothes. 

harry throws the bill money on the table before louis can protest, and calum doesn' bother, he knows that he's just trying to impress louis. if he was a bird, he'd be doing some strange mating dance. but he's harry, and calum doesn't quite actually put that past him. 

"okay, boys, where do we go first?," harry asks with some type of deep tone, dropping his voice several octaves, making louis laugh at him quietly. harry gets this great big grand smile of his face, knowing he made louis bubble with happy music, he's noticed how tense he got about halfway through the meal. 

calum shrugs and pulls his jacket off the back of his chair, slipping it over his shoulders. "i was thinking, maybe ruggerberry's?," he says, referring to the resident 'man' store. it's the epitome of douchebag outfitting. saggy pants, overbearing colognes, expensive hair gels, and offensive graphic tees. the workers there would probably take to louis like a piñata. 

harry shakes his head with a laugh, and louis focuses on what he's saying. "i'll have to pass on that one, mate, that store's a little too... i'm going to go with the word 'manly', for me," he continues to chuckle, and louis' shoulders sag in relief. 

calum scoffs at him as harry pulls louis' chair out for him (which, yes, causes him to blush). "it's all luke, man. him and z. they use this weird hair gel that only ruggerberry's carries apparently. i tried it once, it was like sticking maple syrup in my hair," he rolls his eyes, pulling a hands through his soft, curly hair. "but, alas, i do have to grab a bottle for lucas, he'll throttle me if he figures out that i came into the mall and didn't get him any," he sighs, holding the door open for both harry and louis. 

harry nods, not quite grasping what calum is trying to do. get them alone, bonding time. "meet us back at the truck in thirty minutes, tops, or i'm leaving you, i'm not going into class late," harry says sternly, though he isn't actually all of that much threatening. 

calum rolls his eyes at him and shakes a dismissing hand in the air. "kay, mum!," he shouts in reply, and he bursts into laughter ad harry flips him off. harry rolls his eyes as he walks across the street, towards the opposite entrance. 

louis wraps his arms around himself as a chill goes by, and harry turns to him, his great, grand smile restored. "so, where do you wanna go, snowflake?," he asks, and pets the skin behind louis' ears with blunt nails.

❁

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"harry! no, it's fine, i swear! it doesn't matter - i didn't bring enough money with me to shop anyways!," louis protests as harry drags him to forever 21. harry doesn't budge on his decision and louis tries to plant his heels into the ground. even though louis is pretty strong, he's no match for harry, who is nearly half a head taller than him with biceps as big as a grapefruit. "harrrrry," he groans, and harry actually laughs a little, his lips twisted in a smile. "do you get off on manhandling poor little boys?," he huffs, which has harry proper booming with laughter. 

"every night," harry looks behind him for a moment and winks, which, in turn, makes louis flush. "and i know you wanna go in, so don't protest, babes, i don't mind," harry smiles, and though louis can't see it, he knows he is. 

truth is, louis really wants to go in. but the thingy thing thing is, louis is one of those shoppers who can't go into a store without buying at least one thing. it's truly a curse. "i don't have money, harry," he reminds him. you would think somebody wouldn't e so dense as to remember the fact that he had to purchase his meal for him not five minutes ago. 

harry looks behind him and gives him an incredulous scowl, like he can't believe that that's louis' best argument. "i'll buy you anything you want," harry says sincerely, and louis swallows as harry finally, successfully drags him through the glass doors of the store of every wallet's nightmares. forever 21. 

"harry, i'm twenty-two, i'm not twenty-one, it's probably unorthodox for me to have even stepped through the door!," he says, keeping his eyes on harry, to keep from ogling over the (definitely new shipment of) clothing. harry laughs at him, which causes one of the workers to look over at them. 

she catches glance of harry and does a double take. it's no sight to seeing eyes to tell that harry is attractive, but louis feels oddly defensive for people to be looking up his... platonic-dude-friend-mate-pal. "you're twenty-two? i thought i was being a cradle robber, no joke, thought were no older than eighteen," harry laughs a little more, and then stops suddenly, realizing what he's said. 

"cradle robber?," louis asks, stepping closer to harry, making sure the proximity of their bodies is a good enough innuendo to the worker woman. 

harry is absolutely blubbering, and louis is eating it up. "i - uh... you - you know what i, what i meant! like, um, like bef - befriending someone s - so much younger...," he stammers, and louis looks up at him in a new light. 

he raises one eyebrow cheekily and he watches harry flush. "we're friends?," he asks, and he watches harry's adam's apple bob as he swallows thickly.

harry nods quickly, and his curls bounce adorably. "'course, 'course. and... friends shop together," harry insists, nudging louis towards the clothing racks. 

louis huffs and his eyebrows furrow in distress. he just needs harry to understand. "harry... listen... this, i, um - okay. this isn't going to be like shopping with calum, or your guy friends," he says slowly, and harry just blinks at him. 

"why's that, lou?," harry asks, tilting his head to the side a little. louis literally almost groans. 

he's not quite sure if he's being serious, thick, or he's just... he doesn't know. "harry. i'm... just... different, okay? i like to look at skirts with cute ruffles and shirts with floral patters. i don't like to get that jersey that that one hockey player has, i'm not... interested in wearing a baseball cap with race-car logos on in. i'm not good for talking about sports or women or anything...," he rambles, his voice raising and lowering. 

harry rolls his eyes at him fondly and suddenly wraps him into a warm embrace, settling his chin on his shorter shoulder. "louis," he chuckles, "i don't wanna talk with you about sports. and i really don't wanna talk to you about women. i don't care for race-cars, i don't like hockey, and i like seeing you in ruffly skirts and flowery shirt, okay babes?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leave Comments!

⚥

louis sighs as harry walks around the store, keeping their arms looped. "you have a lot of tattoos," he notes, trying to distract harry - and himself - from the clothes. harry hums and nods with a smile, his too-long hair bounces on his forehead, he uses he free hand to push it off his forehead. 

"you can't exactly say that you don't, mr. tomlinson," harry smirks as louis scoffs. but, alas, that does pitch at the smaller man's attention, and he looks down at their looped arms. he makes a curious sound, and it catches harry's attention. "what?," he asks, and louis looks back at him. 

louis uses his free hand to point at their arms, indicating their tattoos. "we - um, our tattoos are on opposite arms, they match," he says and harry furrows his eyebrows in confusion, then his face lights up and he makes a little 'aha!' sound, and louis looks up at him with a lighthearted chuckle. "what?," he smiles, and harry shrugs clumsily, still smiling. 

then he gives this goofy, borderline dorky, laugh, and his cheeks dint into dimples that look violent, expanse-less, and very offensive. "it's just too cliché," harry's laughter kind of sounds like he's blowing bubbles with the hiccups, and louis feels like he could explode with fond. "look! we must have similar tastes!," harry chortles, and louis watches him pull down the neck of his shirt and jumper, and louis can see the chest tattoo. louis has one. 

louis' eyes widen in amusement, and he looks harry over for more matching tattoos. he's definitely not ogling over the newly exposed skin of his neck and collarbones. "we both have bird tattoos," he says, making motions to harry's chest tattoo. harry looks down, which is quite dumb, considering he can't even really see the tattoo, and they both laugh at his idiocy. louis shows harry his arm, as if harry hasn't already memorized every freckle. he's had a long term... admiration for louis. it's not creepy, it's endearing.

harry smiles at him, and looks up at the clothes again, his demeanor very lax. louis looks up, too, and the worker is definitely closer than she was last time, and they went the opposite way that she was standing. "hey, don't you have this shirt, right here?," harry says excitedly, pulling a pink and blue shirt from the rack before louis can even look at it properly. 

louis bursts into giggles as harry presses the shirt to his chest and strikes this ridiculous pose that is all leg and awkwardly bent arms. louis wouldn't say it audibly, but harry does look quite cute in the shirt. it's not very girl, it's just a tie-die of purple and dark pink. "yeah, i got that from jesy and leslie for my birthday," louis says, blinking as harry's face sinks just a bit, but then he's back to smiling, and putting the clothes back on the rack, the hanger clinking against the metal. 

louis can small her before he can see her, and he can also see harry look up. he fears he might suffocate on - what he can tell to be - the justin bieber perfume, which he is familiar with. every one of his four sisters have a bottle. "hello! can i help you with anything, sirs - ma'am...?," she says chipper at the beginning, but confused at the end, as louis turns around. then her jaw gives a little, inaudible pop, and she shifts feet. 

"no, thank you, we are just looking around," louis says politely, just how his mum taught him to be to people who he doesn't like. he looks up in surprise, though, as harry wraps an arm over his shoulder. 

he gives a quiet tsk and boops louis on the nose with a laugh. "babes, we're here to shop," he smiles, gesturing to the store in front of them. louis frowns. and the worker raises an eyebrow at the ( obvious-to-everyone-except-harryandlouis) flirting. 

"h, i already told you i don't have any money with me," he whispers, which causes harry to roll his eyes. 

"and i told you that i'll bu - "

"if you don't have money, don't loiter around and stink up the store. be on your way then. and don't think about stealing anything," the woman seethes, walking away quickly. louis swallows thickly, pulling away from harry. 

with his shorter legs, it's no surprise how fast harry catches up to him. he doesn't make any move to protest as he's wrapped in a smothering hug. louis coughs wetly into his chest, frustration and embarrassment in play, but mostly confusion and sadness. "i didn't do anything to her! i never do anything to anyone and everyone still hates me!," he hiccups, his brain conjuring up every bad thing that's ever happened to him, making his sob and go into a loud, choking/coughing fit in the middle of the mall. 

harry balls his fists up behind louis' back, and leans back to look at the shorter lad, who whines and tries to get his face back to harry's chest. "louis," harry says sternly, holding him by his shoulders to keep him in place. louis keeps his eyes downcast, sniffling sadly as he tries to keep from cough. "louis," harry says again, making louis look up at harry, who looks unusually stern. louis' seen him angry, see one hour earlier, but he's never seen him so stern and serious. 

"w - what?," louis hiccups, crossing his arms over his body, trying to hide away. he nearly flinches as harry removes his hands from his shoulders, suddenly pushing louis' arms away from his torso and to his sides. "harry...," louis whimpers, looking around at all of the people looking at them, and when he looks at harry, his demeanor hasn't changed. 

"stop," harry growls, which causes louis to quit breathing, all he can do is blink up at him in surprise. "stop with this self-depicting crap! i - you - god!," harry hisses in frustration, pulling at his hair. "you are - there's nothing wrong with you! i don't know why you think everyone hates you, i don't! i don't hate you! calum doesn't! i bet whoever jesy is, i bet they don't either. stop paying attention to people who do not matter!," he hisses, and his arms are finally held open for louis to collapse into them. which, by the way, he does.

❁  
❁  
❁

"thank you, for the ride... and lunch... and, y'know... everything else," louis smiles bashfully, and harry nods at him softly, his expression somewhere between insistent and comforting. "i'll, uh, i'll see you in about ten minutes?," he says, taking a step onto the curb. harry gives him a thumbs up, and louis sees him blush as calum says something that he can't quite catch. harry and calum both wave at him animatedly, and louis waits for the old, beat-up truck to drive out of sight before he goes into the building. 

with much less of a rush, louis walks through the lobby, straight to the lifts, pressing the up arrow on the first one he sees. when it arrives, it's empty, and he sighs in relief, stepping and pressing the 7 button, to take him to his floor.

when he gets out, he nearly collides with somebody - which is apparently becoming a thing. "louis?," says the person, and louis automatically recognizes it as jesy. he looks up at her, hoping she can't see the rings of redness around his eyes. "where were you? you didn't come home for lunch," she says, crossing her arms. louis blushes uncontrollably, which only spurs jesy on. "did you, oh! did lou-boo get a date?," she smirks coyly, and louis scoffs. 

the start walking back to the room, jesy apparently ditching whatever she was previously doing. "no, j, it wasn't a date. i just went out," he says, using his key to open the locked door. 

jesy makes a 'mmhmm' type sound, and steps into the flat after louis, closing the door behind them. "so... you went out to eat... alone? that's shy you have on somebody else's jumper? mm...," she says, and louis' eyes widen. he completely forgot harry put his jumper on him as the left the store, he was only slightly shivering.

"no, i didn't say i went out to eat alone, i just said it wasn't a date," he corrects her, going into the kitchen. she follows him in and he throws his hands in the air with a groan at her inquisitive look. "i went to ezmerelda's with calum hood and harry styles, then we looked around the mall," he says in one breath, grabbing a kettle from under the sink, filling it with water without delay. 

jesy lets out an incredulous laugh and louis looks behind him to give her 'the look' as he turns on one of the oven eyes. "you weren't joking about harry, then? i thought you were just trying to avoid the subject. i would've grilled you, but you made me pause b.n.t.m., you hooligan," she says in a goofy scottish accent at the end. "but, harry is really who you fancy, now?," she says, grabbing an apple from their fruit bowl. 

"don't you have some place to be? like... not here?," he asks, and she laughs around a bite. "and, no, i do not fancy pants mr. styles," he insists, putting the kettle on the warming eye. 

jesy makes a sound of disapproval, and louis narrows his eyes at her. "so," she says, swallowing. "if harry styles drove his fancy little truck down here and declared his love for you and requested a candle-lit dinner on the bridge down in brighton, you'd say...?"

louis just huffs and throws a handful of water on her.

louis sighs as jesy continues to tweak his appearance. a little more hair gel here, a different skirt, a lighter shade of eyeshadow. 

"jesy, we have to be back at the uni in... six minutes," louis huffs, looking over at the wall clock. jesy sighs heavily and looks at her creation. 

instead of all the plain, black clothing, jesy has had him take off the jeans, replacing it with a soft pink colored skirt, matched with a teal t-shirt. she replaced his vans with his rarely used black doc martins, and fixed his make-up. "i guess this'll do. we've gotta woo all of the boys, lou," she coos, and louis slaps at her hands as she grabs at his cheeks. 

"want me to dump water on you again?," he asks facetiously, and she narrows her eyes at him, pointing a finger animatedly. 

"i wouldn't try with the likes of that, again, mr. tomlinson. i hear that poking the bear is not very wise," she threatens, and louis scoffs and rolls his eyes. even though he does kinda take her serious. "and anyway," she says, grabbing her purse from the door handle, tossing louis his. "my make-up is waterproof"

❁

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harry groans as calum fixes his shirt. which is his shirt, as in calum's. "i don't see why i had to change...," he grumbles, pulling his green bay beanie farther down over his hair. calum scrunches his nose up. 

"you, my friend, need a haircut," he says, and harry rolls his eyes as he makes cutting motions with his fingers. "and i've had you change because you're not going to impress louis with your normal attire," he says, and harry furrows his eyebrows dumbly. 

"i can impress louis without your help," he says, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout. calum squints his eyes at him. 

"so you admit that you're trying to impress louis?," he says with sneaky eyebrows, and harry opens his mouth to retort, but end up blubbering, his mouth bobbing until he finally clamps it shut with a scowl. 

"wanker," he huffs, and calum gives a quiet laugh at him, opening the door to the uni

both boys watch michael clifford walk over to them, his candy floss hair sticking out amongst the crowd. also, his very pale skin. "who is he texting?," he asks as harry looks down at his phone, sending a message to louis, hoping that he doesn't appear too clingy. 

to: lou x

word text: r u close?.x

he, also, hopes that it isn't too early to start sending 'x's. they only exchanged phone numbers thirty minutes ago. "louis tomlinson," calum says it with a scandalous tone and harry looks up to scowl at him. 

"tranlinson?," michael asks in confusion and harry bristles automatically. 

"what would make you think that it's okay to call him ─ anyone that?," harry says angrily, putting his hands on his hips. michael starts blubbering as his phone buzzes, and he looks down at it, smiling as he sees that louis has replied. 

from: lou x

subject text: yeah , me and jes are about 3 minutes from. (:

harry's heart ─ not admittedly ─ flutters at the use of the smiley face. " ─ i, uh, mate, i didn't mean it derogatory-ish or anything ─ no, i'm chill with whatever he's with, that's just what came out of my mouth, that's what everybody references him by... which i don't like either!," michael continues to blabber as harry creates a response. 

to: lou x

subject text: k.

he looks up as michael groans loudly, pulling at his poor, fragile hairs. "mike, it's okay ─ well, it's not okay, but i get it, we all have slip up. but with that said, do not have a slip up around him," harry says sternly, and michael nods his head quickly, overwhelmingly embarrassed and ashamed. 

calum just silently watches as harry continues to look at his phone. he can see harry's lip curl upwards just that little bit more each time his phone buzzes with a new message. he didn't even know they exchanged numbers, harry only acts like this when he's talking about, or around louis. today (and part of yesterday) is the first he's ever had courage enough to talk to him. 

from: lou x

subject field: you better not start with one letter responses with me , styles !

harry laughs quietly at that, missing how calum and michael exchange a look. 

to: lou x

subject field: ok

he locks his phone and looks between his mates, who are looking at each other, then at harry, until they catch his eyes and silence each other. he goes to question them, but his phone buzzing automatically sidetracks his. 

from: lou x

subject field: ew ! don't spell it like thaaat !

harry actually giggles then. a twenty year old university man, giggling over some innocent flirting. he starts to type something else out, but louis beats him to it. 

from: lou x

subject field: we ' re here btw .

harry smiles and from his position on the second story, he can see louis' bus arrive. he tries to not look quite so stalkerish as he watches people load off. he smiles in excitement as he sees louis ─ who has definitely changed clothes ─ flanked by both men and women. 

to: lou x

subject field: okay

he sends it, and watches louis look down at his phone and laugh, covering his mouth with his free hand. he watches him compose a message, and his face hurts from smiling as his phone buzzes. 

from: lou x

subject field: better ... x

 

⚥

"did you gel your hair up?," calum asks as harry resurfaces from the restroom. harry rolls his eyes at him, avoiding the question, and calum reaches forward to touch the newly styled quiff. "it looks good, mate. not overdone. not that you would ever overdo anything?," he teases, and harry groans in annoyance, trying to tug away from his hands-on friend.

"he said that 'jesy' is in this class. and if that is his boyfriend, and the other bloke has won, at least i'll know that i look better," he explains, causing calum to snort.

"is that the only thing keeping your ego alive?," calum asks, and harry shoves him away. "i'll take that as a yes, then?"

"you're a nuisance, actually, that's what it means," harry tells him, slumping against the wall, waiting for louis to show up that way they can all go into the classroom together.

calum slumps beside him, pulling out his mobile. "hey, while i'm still thinking about it... what is it about him?," he asks, looking over at harry, who has his eyebrows pulled.

"who? louis?," he asks foolishly, and calum nearly shoves him. instead, he scowls and makes a comical sound that means 'duh'. "i dunno... he's undeniably attractive... beautiful even... but he's also more, y'know? he's nice, and he's smart, and he's funny, and he's blasé. he's really, really brave... he has an amazing smile... a nice personality... and i can respect him. he's -my - total package. i don't know what more i could ask for in a person. he's my definition of perfect.

"okay, does his... clothing choices, do they not faze you?," he asks, knowing the answer. he just enjoys watching harry talk about louis, how his eyes light up and he uses his hands, like he's talking about his favorite book.

"no," harry says quickly, shaking his head, "no, why would it? i don't understand the stupid human laws that we shouldn't wear what makes us feel the most comfortable...," he sighs, remembering the incident with louis and theo not long ago. how often does he have to deal with people treating him like that? the thought makes him feel sick. he figures that if he was his, he could protect him better.

"i get it," calum says, even though he's 107% sure that harry isn't paying any attention to him. he chuckles to himself, "i get it, mate"

❁  
❁  
❁

"hurry, jes, we're going to be late!," louis huffs as jesy takes her time scooping her bag off the chair, standing up as leisurely as louis can find possible. "jesy!," he huffs and she scowls at him, shooing him off the bus.

"just because you're so hyped up to get to lover boy doesn't mean that i'm so hyped to get to class...," she grumbles. even though she is - secretly - very excited to see how louis reacts with harry now. it has only been a day. and he talked so sourly about him before. "and stop fidgeting with your skirt. it looks fine. you look great. now... let's get to class," she sighs, leading louis towards the staircase that leads to the door to the university.

"i'm not fidgeting...," he grumbles, just to get the last word, and jesy looks behind herself to scowl at him. "i'm not! now... look in front of you! you don't want to run face first into anybody!," he demands pitifully, but with a sigh and dramatic eye roll, she looks to the front.

"we aren't going to make it in time," she groans as they get to the elevators. she presses the up button and is pleasantly surprised when it opens automatically. it usually takes at least four or five minutes. "well, that's hopeful," she chuckles, pulling louis into the lift with her by his arm. 

louis pulls his arm away from her with a playful eye twitch and she shakes her index finger out at him like an angry old lady. they get out of the lift quickly, their next class is only on the second floor, and they dodge people, but people are back to harassing louis, shouting things at him and slapping his bum as he walks down to hall. 

("hey, twinklinson, you free later, babes?"

"i bet i could make your lips turn an even prettier color pink!"

"c'mon, lift that skirt just a little bit higher! give us a show! slut!"

"queer!")

louis chooses to ignore them, as usual. while he doesn't quite enjoy the bum slaps (he hates them, actually), he finds the people's words amusing. he's long past letting them get to them, they just sound so uneducated for university students. and this is a prestigious school. he just doesn't like the too physical ones, like what happened with theo. and he doesn't like when people touch his face. and the theo incident reminds him of why he's started to feel so fond for harry. as fond as he'd admit, anyway. 

and as they turn the corder to the hall where the class is right as the bell rings. "no!," harry shouts, and louis can see him trying to convince the professor to let them in, he looks down the hall and his eyes widen when he sees louis. " - we were waiting on them! we aren't late!," he's saying once they get into hearing range. louis knows that it isn't going to work. so he isn't surprised when harry gets the door slammed in his face. louis and jesy get there right as the blinds are drawn. "damn," harry curses, but he's smiling as louis wraps harry in a brief embrace. "who's this?," he smiles, quite relived that 'jesy' didn't come.

"hello," says the girl, who is very pretty in harry's opinion, "i'm jesy. i'm sure louis has talked about me?" harry coughs loudly at that, and even calum looks surprised. "good things, i hope," she says, squinting her eyes at louis, who has harry's arm over his shoulder.

"you're - um - not really, uh, you're not - "

"what you were expecting?," she tries to finish for him, she looks majorly confused. so does louis, who is looking up at harry with furrowed eyebrows.

"a boy," harry finishes with an awkward chuckle, and jesy's mouth pops open.

"oh"

"sorry," harry says goofily. it actually looks goofy, all big teeth and loose lips and big eyes, and louis suddenly notices his hair.

"you did your hair up," he says, and harry blushes, nodding. calum smirks and leans forward.

"he did it for - "

"let's go get a tattoo!," harry shouts the first thing that comes to his mind, and calum's words stop in mid-sentence.

nobody says anything for several moments, and jesy looks around like they're a bunch of escaped zoo animals. and then her face breaks out into a smile. "seriously?," she asks, and louis looks back up at harry, as his adam's apple bobs.

"y - yeah. i'm going to get a tattoo..."


	5. Chapter 5

⚥

harry has started to question his decisions. and louis' friendship choices. jesy is currently, and actively, looking through a tattoo book in a tattoo parlor. 

harry has gotten his fair share of sudden tattoos, but he usual just goes with calum and maybe jade and michael. he never thought that he'd ever get to get a tattoo with louis. even though, technically, he's not getting it with him. technicalities. "what about this?," jesy asks louis, who's trying desperately not to look at any designs. "louis," she says, and louis looks pointedly at her, making sure not to look at the book in her hand. 

"jesy, you know that i can't look through these books without caving in and getting one...," he whispers through pinched lips and she rolls her eyes, flipping the page again. harry blinks as louis' attention is suddenly on him, looking him straight in the eye. "are you actually going to get one?," louis asks him, and he does look quite impressed. harry nods dumbly at that. "i don't think i will, if i can help it...," he grumbles, putting his hands in his lap, turning his attention to them. 

harry smiles waywardly and looks down at the book in calum's hand. "this is sick, mate," calum says, pointing at some sort of indian tribal head. hardy looks up at him and nods. "i think that's what i'm g'nna get. that, or this horse shoe...," he adds, and something catches harry's attention. he makes an 'ooh!' sound, and calum looks up at him. "find one that you like?," he chuckles, and harry nods, looking at the number the tattoo is to tell the artist. "which one is it?," he asks, looking over the whole page, and each page contains 75 tattoos, big and small. 

harry makes a zipped-lip motion with his hands and calum narrows his eyes at him. "you know i never tell!," harry laughs, and calum takes a swat at him. harry just laughs again. 

jesy makes a happy noise of finalization and shut the heavy book rather loudly. "i'm gonna go and tell the guy that i'm ready," she says, standing up. harry and calum get up too, and she looks at them. 

"we're ready as well," calum tells her, and she nods with a smile. 

"will you be okay out here on your own?," she asks, looking down at the only person still sitting down. he nods tightly, keeping his vision on his lap, and jesy laughs a little. "okay...," she snickers, leading the other two boys towards the desk. 

harry feels very jittery, in the way that he always is right before he gets a tattoo. he loves it. 

they make their way to the front desk and the worker, a young girl with short, straight blonde hair smiles at them. "walk-in or appointment?," she smiles, looking down at her book. 

"walk-ins," jesy says, and the lady at the front desk nods, writting something down. 

"okay, that's okay, we don't have another appointment for at least two hours," she says, holding up her pen and paper. "names?," she inquires, hovering the pen over the paper. 

"jesy nelson," jesy says, turning to look at harry. 

"er, harry styles," he says, ducking his head a bit. 

"calum hood," calum says smoothly, and the worker smiles at him, pearly white teeth. 

"are you three ready to be done? do you have your tattoo number or design from home?," the woman asks, and they all nod. the front desk lady nods with a nice smile and presses a buzzer, receiving three back. "okay! jesy, you can head on over to malcolm, calum to zayn, harry to tony," she says, "their names are written beside their doors," she adds, pointing them towards the back. 

they all smile thank-yous to her and head back there. when she said 'their names are written beside their doors,' she meant that they are artfully painted like graffiti. harry's room is first, and he waves at the others, pushing the curtain out of the way to get into the room. "hello," chirps the boy/man who is in the room already, readying a ink machine. "my name's tony, and i suppose i'm tattooing you today?," he smiles a charming smile and harry returns it.

"i think so," harry grins, and the young man, tony, pats the chair beside where he's standing. harry walks over smoothly and clambers onto it, his gangly limbs making him clumsy. 

"i don't think this is your first?," tony asks, still fiddling with the tattoo machine. harry shakes his head and laughs, well aware that all of the tattoos on his arm are on show. "what number did you find that you like? or did you bring a sketch from home?," he asks, readying the disinfectants. 

harry shakes his head. "no, i, um, i saw one in the book out there," he says, and tony looks at him with an amused look on his face. 

"you just decided you wanted a tattoo and came in?," he asks, and harry shrugs. him and his big mouth, trying not to be weird around louis. 

"um... er, basically," he sighs, and tony laughs again. harry knows that he isn't that funny, so tony must just be laughing to sooth his nerves. he is bouncing his leg quite animatedly, clenching his fists together. 

"'kay, mate, what's the number you chose?," tony asks, walking over to the computer to pull it up. harry says a quick 'three-twenty-one,' and tony pulls it up quickly. "this one?," he says, and harry nods quickly, a smile on his face. "it's beautiful," tony compliments, printing it out, onto the paper that he'll use as a stencil"

"thank you," he smiles proudly. he thinks so, too.

"okay, so, where do you want it?"

❁

❁

❁

harry walks out of the tattoo room with his arm bandage, and calum is the only one waiting out in the room, his arm also bandaged up. "where...?," he asks, and calum looks up from his phone, realizing that harry is done. 

he stands up and joins harry at the front desk as he pulls out his wallet. "lou and jes had to head back to uni, said that they some big test in springer's today that they can't miss. hey, don't get that... that crestfallen look on your face. louis didn't wanna leave, jesy literally dragged him away. i doubt that he'd ever admit to that part, though," he chuckles as harry hands over his credit card.

"what crestfallen look?," he asks, and his eyes are perkier, his face less droopy. calum rolls his eyes at him. "thank-you, love," harry smiles, taking his credit card, receipt, and the little pamphlet that tells you how to care for your tattoo. "do you think we should try to get to donner's class?," he asks, following calum to the door. 

he groans loudly at that. "i guess so, we have no excuse not to go...," he sighs, opening the door for both of them. harry snorts at him. 

"journalism isn't that bad! it's fun," harry insists, pulling his keys from his pants pocket. with quite a bit of difficulty. calum snorts a laugh at that, right as harry unlocks the truck with a beep. "what?," harry huff, climbing into the driver's side. 

"you are just so gay, mate," he laughs, and harry narrows his eyes at him as his face goes innocent. "but i love you," he sing-songs as harry looks behind them and puts the car in reverse. 

"yeah, yeah," he scoffs. calum laughs again. 

❁

❁

❁

harry is itching to pick at his new tattoo, but he refrains himself, trying to pay attention for the last two or three minutes of class. calum is asleep beside him. harry feels a tap on his shoulder and he looks behind him to see big brown eyes that belongs to the girl behind him. he thinks her name is amethyst or something. "did you get a new tattoo?," she asks, her accent as australian as calum's. 

he smiles and nods, and she nods, too, sitting back in her chair to whisper something to the girl beside her. harry doesn't know who she is, but she has a head of very big, very dark hair. 

he looks to the front right as professor donner dismisses them one minute early. so sweet. harry smiles happily, he's been texting louis, and he and jesy are waiting for him and calum outside of the door, their class ended ten minutes ago. shaking calum awake, they stand at the back of the crowded line of about 200 other students, waiting to get out. 

harry's ears pick it up as soon as he gets near the door. "leave me alone, please, please stop, don't touch me, please, stop!," it's louis, and harry's heart drops. forgetting about his tattoo being raw, he pushes people out of the way, and calum follows behind him in confusion. when harry finally gets out of the mosh pit of that, he looks around quickly, spotting louis. who is getting tickled and poked at by jesy. harry breathes a sigh of relief. "jesy, quit it!," he's definitely laughing. harry stops, smiling fondly despite himself. 

calum catches up to him and checks out the scene. he smirks and makes a whip movement with his arm and sound with his mouth. harry rolls his eyes and shoves him away, making his way towards louis then. 

once louis catches his gaze, he squirms away from jesy and extends his arms for harry. that didn't make harry feel giddy. or fuzzy. not at all. then he sees the plastic wrap over his arm. "did you get a tattoo?," harry asks in confusion as they gently collide. louis nods his head against harry's shoulder. 

"i caved. i knew i would. i'm going to have to pay jesy back for it, nothing new," he says against his skin, pulling back. harry's arm falls to his shoulders and louis smiles. "why don't we have the great reveal?," he asks, and he nearly tumbles over as somebody pushes into him unapologetically. harry keeps him up right, holding tighter, scowling at the retreating boy's figure. 

jesy nods quickly and pulls up the bottom of her dress, a bunch of wolf-whistles go through the crowd and she rolls her eyes. "pervs...," she mutters, pulling away the plastic, revealing a fancy scripted quote of some sort. 

"what does it say?," harry asks, not wanting to look so high up on her leg for so long.

"a tiger never loses sleep over the opinions of sheep," she smiles proudly, looking over at calum as he unwraps his upper arm. he shrugs at the indian head, they all knew what he was getting. "what about you two? louis wouldn't tell me what his is...," she scowls. 

harry looks around at the nearly emoty corridor and removes his arm from louis' shoulder slowly, and they unwrap their tattoos at the same time. "o - oh," harry stammers, looking at louis'. "a compass?," he asks and louis looks at his, his eyes widening. 

"a ship," he whispers. 

"holy hell!," calum booms a loud laugh, "you got matching tattoos! holy crap" harry and louis both blink.

neither boy know how to assess this situation without freaking the other out. 

calum, on the other hand, has no problem outwardly making a big deal out of it. he's still blowing air out of his nose and snorting laughs rather loudly. "you guys are, like... what's the word... what's the word..." he flails his hands madly, scrunching his face up in concentration. 

"mortified?," harry supplies, wishing he could sink into the earth. calum stops talking long enough to scowl at him, but then his face lights up. 

he snaps his fingers dramatically, in victory, and harry winces. "soulmates! you're like soulmates!," he shouts joyfully, and both of the other boys blush hotly at that, fidgeting lightly at the stinging skin on their arms. 

"that's a wee bit dramatic...," louis murmurs, a smile spreading over his face. he folds his arms over his blouse and playfully narrows his eyes at calum. which does, of course, make the australian boy laugh harder. even jesy is chuckling through her surprise. "hey, don't you get in on it," louis huffs, pointing a finger accusingly at the laughing girl. "cheers, mates, mighty well. harry, it's just me and you, these two are off their rockers," he stage whispers the last pary, and harry un-tenses a little upon realizing that louis isn't freaked out. 

even though he kind of is. 

"appears so," he adds, and louis nods, surprising harry by looping their arms together. "hm...," harry breathes out too quietly for louis to hear. it's just a silent sound of content. 

jesy and calum calm down a little as they follow harry and louis out of the school. "your hair looks really good," louis compliments, noticing that harry has fixed it. he silently raises a hand and skims over it. it feels like he's touching silk. he really never imagined hick-harry to be anything past raunchy. god he feels stupid. 

"i really like that, um, the skirt? it, um... you look good... in it! y-you look very good in it," he stammers, which just makes calum burst out in laughter again. "bugger...," harry mutters, and louis might suppress an amused smirk.

"thank-you," louis says after a moment, "i really like this" he twists his hips a little and the material lifts up like it would if he was in a fairytale. he sighs happily at the feelings of petite and feminineness he has right now, with his favorite outfit on, harry dwarfing him with his large arm thrown over his shoulder. he doesn't notice harry watching him, and he doesn't realize how much harry enjoys watching him do just small things. like; swirling in a dress, or picking everything off his pizza, or double knotting the laces to his doc martins. 

"hey...," harry says, addressing everyone. "do you guys want to catch a movie? it's half off on wednesdays," he says, heart thumping in his chest. even though he is inviting everyone, it feels an awful lot like he's asking louis out on a date. baby steps. "i think that documentary type movie about tornadoes is out," he suggests, and jesy and calum groan, but louis perks up. 

"yes! into the storm! it looks wicked - i've been trying to get jesy to come with me to see it," he says excitedly, sparing a glare to jesy, who just rolls her eyes. 

harry grins at that, excitement growing. he nods his head quickly. "yeah, and the woman from the walking dead is in it," he says informatively, and louis nods, his eyes bright and excited. it's been a while since he did anything fun.

"i love that show! it's settled, then!," he cheers, suddenly remembering the two behind them as harry pulls his keys out of his tight skinny jean pocket. "and we can invite ash, jesy! he would probably like to get away from the club for a little bit?," he hums, and she shrugs a nod. 

"who is ash?," harry asks subtly, unlocking the truck. 

louis looks behind them again, at the way jesy looks curiously at the truck as she dials on her phone, probably texting ashton the details. she's probably just as confused as louis as to how they ever even come close to the thing. it happens. 

"uh, he's a nice chap, a good friend of jesy and i's. he runs this amazing night club - oh, my god. it's been, like, his life's work, really. i mean... he's only twenty... but he's worked hard on it. i'm proper impressed," he smiles fondly at the memory of helping his friend build up the club to what it is now. 

harry chews on his frowning lower lip and opens the door for louis, and calum squawks as he's forced to get into the back. "what's the name of the club?," he asks as louis climbs in, ignoring calum as he huffs at him, but it's all in good spirits. 

"jolt," louis smiles, he was the one who helped come up with it. harry nods and holds up one finger, closing the door for him, rushing over to his side. 

he opens his door and climbs in as jesy closes the door behind herself in the back. he puts the key into the ignition and some country song suddenly blares out of the speakers, making louis and jesy jump. calum claps once, realizing what song it is. "i love this song!," calum shouts, and harry nods in agreement, a smile on his face as he reverses. louis looks behind them and looks curiously at calum, who is singing along like he knows every word. "do you not know this song?," he laughs between words, and louis makes a face, shaking his head. "do you hear that, h? lou-bird has never heard florida-georgia line!," calum booms, tapping harry on the back from the back seat. 

"i don't listen to country," louis says defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. harry looks over at him as they hit the road and pats his leg, turning the radio down a bit after. 

"then what do you listen to?," he asks, raising his eyebrows curiously. louis blushes a little; nobody asks him things about himself. 

he fiddles with his hands a little, picking at his green nail polish. "ehm... i quite like the killers, panic at the disco, and the kooks... lorde, the nineteen seventy-five, hm, bastille... and i like some of the arctic monkeys' stuff," he says, and he shrugs a little, gnawing on his bottom lip. 

"i quite like the kooks! and i love the nineteen seventy-five... but, i've never really heard of those other ones. do you have any of their things on your phone?," harry asks, pulling up a cord that is attached to the radio. louis nods slowly and pulls his phone from his purse and unlocks it, turning it to allow harry to plug it in. louis clicks on his favorite song, by panic! at the disco, and the first guitar strums fill the car. jesy moves her head to the familiar beat. "what song is this?," harry asks, turning it back up a bit. 

"it's called 'this is gospel'," louis smiles, he feels sort of giddy sharing things with harry. 

they drive for several seconds, hitting the highway, and both harry and calum startle when the vocals suddenly become intense. louis - literally - giggles and harry turns to him with a faux scowl. "you could've warned me," he toys, and louis rolls his eyes at him, shrugging. 

"what's fun in that? and... do you like it?," he asks, and harry faces the road again, nodding his head, his hair bobbing a little bit. louis wants to touch it again.

"yeah, it sounds wonderful! albeit the message is sort of dark... but those vocals are incredible, and the overall sound is impressive," harry says and calum scoffs from the back. 

he pats louis' shoulder, and he turns around to look at him. calum smirks and throws a thumb towards harry, "ignore this goof. he only starts yammering like this when he's talking about music... the needy... and y - "

"hey, cal, remember that thing you told me a few weeks ago? when you got drunk at my birthday party?," harry interrupts him quickly, and louis' eyebrows raise. 

calum huffs and falls backwards into the seat. "shots fired," he smirks, and harry rolls his eyes. 

after a few moments, the song plays out, transitioning to eskimo kiss by the kooks, and louis turns to harry, "your birthday was a few weeks ago?," he asks, and harry nods, a smile etched on his lips as louis starts to tell him about how his birthday was only a few weeks ago, more than a few, but still. 

❁

❁

❁

"ash's already there," jesy mumurs moments after her phone buzzed. 

louis nods happily, quite excited to see his mate, which he hasn't in quite some time. "tell him that we're about a minute away, right?," he says, directing the first part to jesy, the last part to harry. 

"oh - um... y-yeah," harry says, caught off guard. he may or may not have been creating unrealistic scenarios in his head that involve louis and 'ashton' falling in love and raising four kids together with the riches they'll make off of jolt. "just around this corner...," he says, trying to play it cool. 

his fingers drum the steering wheel as they wait at the stop sign before the cinema building, and he may or may not let more than the fair amount of cars go before he finally presses the accelerator. he tries to distract himself with louis' voice as he yammers excitedly about the trailer for the movie that they're going to see. " - and there was a fire tornado! how crazy is that! it could actually happen!," he squawks, alight with the thought. 

"not anywhere here," jesy rolls her eyes, "most tornadoes are frequent in the mid and southern parts of the united states and parts of canada," she adds, just to be a smarty-pants. louis chalks her off though and keeps talking about how cool the movie is going to be, he doesn't even notice that they've parked until harry puts a hand on his knee and points to the cinema. 

he brightens up even more, and harry follows his hand as he points to something outside of the front window. "there's ash! he's wearing the shirt i got him for his birthday, what a sweetheart," he says, faux flattery. he misses how harry gives a quick breath out of his nose. 

he collects his purse, unplugs his phone, and flattens his skirts so it doesn't fly up when the wind comes in, and opens the door. harry's heart falters. he wanted to open the door for him. but... okay, then. harry sighs and turns the key and the engine sputters as it turns off. he climbs out of his side as jesy does and they shut their doors at the same time. louis waits impatiently for calum to get out, hopping from foot to foot. which harry does find the familiar fondness in from watching louis, because the smaller boy is wearing a thin skirt that moves freely, and he moves so elegantly without even trying, so it looks so stunning and harry is literally such a goner. 

noticing that everyone has climbed out, louis looks both ways across the street and takes off, his hair blowing in the wind like it is in the movies. 

harry walks more slow with calum and jesy, and they are nearly caught up when ashton notices louis and puts his phone away quickly, rushing forward. he's gorgeous, harry inwardly seethes, his shoulders slumping in dread. he admittedly feels jealous and more than a smidge possessive as they collide and ashton spins him around once or twice. who's counting. "you look beautiful, lou!," harry hears ashton compliment, and louis doesn't look much apposed to it. 

as they catch up to them, harry stands with most of his weight on one foot, and louis looks like he's just noticed him, and harry's heart pics up as louis finally pay him some attention, walking towards him. "ash, this is harry, harry styles," he says, using his arm to introduce them. harry - totally, 100% nonchalantly - throws an arms over louis' shoulders, pulling him closer. louis smiles victoriously at that. "harry, this is ashton irwin, the owner of the jolt; the club i told you about? and this is harry's best-mate; calum hood"

calum steps forward and shakes ashton's hand with his usual friendly smile. "nice to meet you, lad," he says, and ashton's face lights up. 

"you're australian too? wicked!," he says, and louis has to pull at his - ripped up - shirt to get his attention, or they'd be stuck talked forever. "yeah, babes?," ashton asks, and harry breathes in shakily, irritated. 

louis points to the entrance of the movie theater. "it starts it 'round five minutes, yeah? i figure we aught to go ahead and purchase our tickets and snacks," he says, and he leads everyone to the ticket bar, still coated under harry's arm. "how many of us are there... five," he murmurs, fiddling with his fingers absently. 

approaching the clerk, harry and louis fall to the back of their short line, right behind jesy. he doesn't pay attention to ashton and calum buying their tickets, too entranced by how harry's cologne smells eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head good. "one ticket for into the storm," jesy says, and louis stiffens as she pulls out her wallet. he doesn't have any money. 

harry, feeling him tense, looks down in confusion, which causes the other three to gain interest. "what's wrong?," he asks, rubbing louis' arm thoughtlessly. louis blushes and looks at the ground. 

"i - uh - i didn't expect to really... go out...," he murmurs, and jesy waves a hand in the hair. 

"i'll pay for you," she, harry, and ashton say in unison, and louis can feel harry's arms tightening around his shoulders. harry bites his bottom lip roughly, he feels threatened, which he rarely does with his relaxed persona. "i'll pay for you," he says, and louis shakes his head bashfully. 

"i can't ask you to buy my lunch and my way into the cinema... that's too much," he says and ashton steps up. 

"i'll consider the dept. paid," harry says before ashton can say anything, before he can think about it first, "if you go on a date with me" oh.


	6. Chapter 6

⚥

it's chilly, five pairs of eyes are on him, and harry just asked him out on a date. 

those are the only three things that register in louis' mind. harry doesn't look much better, his face has turned red and his eyes are wide open and staring into louis' like a deer in headlights. they both just stare at each other, and, at the same time, stammer out, "i..." but stop quickly when they notice that the other is about to say something. "go ahead," they, again, say in unison, and they both blush harder, kicking the toes of their shoes a little. 

"you can go on...," harry says after a moment, making sure that he doesn't interrupt louis. 

louis swallows and looks at the floor for a millisecond, then back up at harry, then over at calum, jesy, ashton, and the cashier, who are all looking at both he and harry in surprise and curiosity. "harry... har... guys, could we...," louis stammers, his mouth twitching a little as he tries to form words in coherent orders. harry grabs the elbow of his limp arm to put his arm over himself for comfort without looking defensive. 

"yeah, sure... we'll save you two's seats," jesy nods quickly, trying to play her surprise off. 

harry actually can not believe he did that. can't. he physically, mentally, spiritually, religiously, actually can not believe that he asked louis on a date so spontaneously. at all, really. so, when the others nod in understanding and walk onwards, towards the theater, harry stays sullen as louis quietly gestures for him to follow. 

it feels sort of alien for harry to walk beside louis without their arms looped, or his arm over louis' shoulders or around his waist. he has a lump in his throat and he doesn't know if it's from embarrassment, rejection, sadness, scorn, terror, mortification, or all of the above. he blushes and blunders even more not ten seconds later, because he nearly slams into louis, not realizing that he has stopped. "hey, careful, lipstick stains," louis mocks serious, scrunching his face up adorably. harry's face breaks. "harry...," louis murmurs softly, his cheerful façade slipping off. 

harry sighs quietly, and brings his hands together, wringing them nervously. "i'm sorry if i embarrassed you...," he whispers, ducking his head in shame. 

louis furrows his eyebrows in confusion, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at harry with a hard expression. "harry," he says stiffly, and harry doesn't look up, his shoulders just move a little. louis waits a few seconds, and steps closer. "harry," he repeats, growing frustrated that he won't have a little courage and look at him. so, taking the final few steps forward, louis - not so gently - grabs harry by the jaw and forces his face up, connecting their eyes. "harry," he growls, his eyes swirling in the light from the theater's bulbs. 

harry's breath palpates and louis narrows his eyes. "lou...," harry murmurs, not even trying to get his face out of louis' tight grip. tears are sort of collecting at the base of his eyes and he really feels like a big baby. but he's only human, and he's put a lot of emotion into louis in such a small amount of time. "i'm sorry - i don't know why i did it - a-ashton was just - and you - and i - and it wasn't fair and i-i... i... lou...," he rambles pathetically, and louis huffs out at him, releasing his face and stepping a few feet back, crossing his arms over his chest again. harry sniffles a little and crosses his arms over his chest too, and he can't much take the silence. "please... d-don't hate me," he hiccups and louis clenches his fists by his sides in frustration, his own strong demeanor crashing. 

"harry...," louis whispers, closing his eyes, "it's not like you think it is" 

harry licks his lips angrily, blinking his eyes quickly. "then what is it? please inform me," he says, pursing his lips. his anger disintegrates as soon as louis' eyes open, to reveal watery blue that show more sadness than the situation might call for. 

"because! it always happens - "

"what always happens?"

"i-it always happens! anybody that dates me or-or anything similar... they can't take it! they either think that i dress like t-this because i'm trying to be coy o-r-r kinky and they expect things off m-me and i'm not like that! i'm not dirty - i - ugh! or if we're just in the dating phase - hardly anybody makes it past that! and the only ones who do are the the ones holding on for kinky sex! the others can't take the way i am - the way i act. it bothers them, i'm unorthodox. they always act so jittery during the dinner or whatever, and it's just not the same after that - it's like i was an experiment. h-harry, i can't do that with you - not you...," louis hiccups, and he watches harry deflate with each word, but he can't stop talking, he needs harry to understand. it all just hit him at once. 

harry stands there in front of louis just like that for a few moments, collecting himself, then he tumbles forward collecting louis in his arms. then their legs give out and they're sitting with their limbs tangled up in the dark, secluded part of the cinema, both pretty emotionally drained. "you know...," harry murmurs, stroking louis' head so gently, "you know that it wouldn't be like that with me..." louis hiccups at that, his shoulders, stuttering. 

"harry...," he whispers, and he grabs at harry's jacket, pressing his face to harry's neck, shivering: the adrenaline buzzing his blood and making him feel on edge and frozen to the bone. he leans back in confusion as harry starts to move a little, moving his shoulders around, "w-what - " he silences as harry gently drapes his leather jacket over his shoulders. 

"it wouldn't be like that with me," harry whispers, bringing his hands up to play with the hairs on the back of louis' neck; making him shiver again. "it wouldn't - i don't consider you unorthodox. i don't consider anyone unorthodox. baby, everyone are just human, and there aren't categories that they are suppose to be placed in. that's unorthodox and honestly, it's inhuman. you say - and people in general say that you wear girl's clothes. no. you're wearing clothes. they're a color that is generalized by being favored by girls, but clothes are always gender neutral. and why... why, why, why, why, why would the clothes you wear make anybody think any different about you? god - i've crushed on you for so long, you gotta know how scary this is... if this is just weirding you out and comes out creepy and you decide to go out with ashton instead or something and never speak to me again, i want you to come out of this with something. the knowledge that you are so amazing, so daring, so brave, and you deserve nothing more than love and respect," harry says, and his voice doesn't go above a whisper once, yet louis catches every word. 

"you're too good for me," louis whispers, ignoring how his bottom lip wobbles without consent.

harry's face breaks into a gentle grin at that, and he stands them both up shakily. he stands himself up straighter to fix his jacket over louis' shoulder, and pulls him in for a tight embrace, kissing the top of his head once, leaving his lips to remain. "could i take that as a yes? that we can try?," harry says hopefully, and louis slaps his arms lightly, but harry can hear him give a muffled, wet giggle. "good... good... okay, then, love, let's get our tickets bought so we don't miss the movie," harry hums, and he smiles wider as louis surfaces. 

"what?," he huffs, and his voice still sounds sort of wet, but his arms are crossed and and looks considerably happier. and indescribably adorable completely swallowed in harry's jacket. harry grins lopsidedly and tilts his head to the side a bit, bringing his hand up to his mouth only to lick his thumb and bring it to louis' mouth, wiping at the edges of it, making louis' eyes widen, then look down at harry's light colored shirt. "harry... god, i've ruined another one of your shirts! lipstick stains... i'm sorry," he winces, using a small hand to try to shade it in. unsuccessfully. 

harry looks at him with so much fond, even though he isn't looking at him. "it's okay, lou," he smiles gently, scooping louis' hand up, bringing it away from his shirt, lacing their fingers together. "it's a work of art," he adds, and louis' eyes widen, his cheeks flame back up.

"sap," he huffs, and he allows himself to be gently guided by harry as he leads them back through the cinema, towards the ticket seller. he looks around, at all the couples around, and he sees them in a different light. it might not last, this view on things, but louis actually feels a lot more confident walking in front of all of them. they are, literally, all the same. none of them, no matter how they claim to be, are better than him. thinking back on something else harry said to him, louis tugs on harry's hand a little drawing his attention. "did you think that me and ashton have something going on?," he asks, and harry blushes, and he squeezes one eyes shut. 

"um... no?," he tries, but louis just rolls his eyes and scoffs. 

"ashton is my step-uncle's son! basically my cousin, harry, that's nearly incest," he huffs, basking in the attention as they get to the ticket seller and harry pulls him in front of him and wraps both of his arms around his waist. 

"two adults for into the storm, please," harry says politely, with a smile, even though the worker looks less than pleased to be there. reaching into the pocket in the jacket wrapped around louis, harry pulls out his wallet and hands the girl his card, pressing a soft kiss to louis' head while they wait. "you never told me that piece, you just talked about how amazing he is and how you basically built a pub together. blame a guy for being jealous," harry pouts as he recieves the two paper tickets and the receipt on the top side of his credit card. 

louis rolls his eyes at harry again, and sighs in comfort as harry leads him towards theater 7, where into the storm is illuminated on top of the door. "more like blame a guy for being completely subtle and utterly spontaneous," he corrects, and he turns to hush harry right as he's about to retort. "the movie looks like it's just started. c'mon, i know where they are - jesy always sits at the very top," he interrupts, pulling harry by his hand. 

they both giggle like drunk kids as they run through the tunnel into the room with the screen. they make it and pause to watch the movie; a band of about four or five kids are stopped in the middle of the road, and the guy in the passenger side appears to be filming a streetlight as it fluctuates, his friends trying to get him to get into the car. it looks innocent enough until the whole theater lights up with the screen lightning and it reveals that there is a large tornado not thirty feet away from them. harry and louis both tense in fear and surprise as the teenagers try to reverse away from it fast enough, but get sucked it, their windows blowing out, their screams echoing through the room. "o-okay...," harry whispers, obviously shaken, "did we pick the right movie, do you figure?" louis just holds harry's hand tighter in response.

 

⚥

harry stands at the door to louis and jesy's flat, tapping his left foot nervously, wringing his hands together. he has been hearing tumbling around from behind the thin wood for a few seconds, and he readies himself, putting on a brave face as the door opens. "hello, harry," says jesy, and he nods slowly, swallowing thickly. jesy invited him here while louis is away at uni still, finishing up his last friday class. 

"hello," he says politely, giving her a nervous wave, which she rolls her eyes at and motions for him to come in, jerking her head to the side a little. following her in and closing the door behind them gently, he fidgets with his fingers and stands pigeon-toed as jesy settles back onto the couch, making herself comfortable. 

she stops moving after a few moments and looks up at him, and they just stare at each other for nearly 30 seconds - just... staring. after another few seconds, a humor induced grin laces its way up jesy's lips and blush dusts harry cheeks, he ducks his head a little. "quit looking so scorned, you aren't in trouble. take a seat if you want," she offers, actually laughing a little. harry doesn't know whether to be soothed or offended. 

but, regardless, he walks over to the recliner adjacent to jesy, and crosses his ankles top over top, intertwining his fingers. "okay, s─sorry," he stutters nervously. he knows why he's been summoned here. the good 'ole fashioned if-you-mess-this-up-and-break-his-heart-i-will-snap-your-neck type talk. and, harry is naturally awkward ─ he can only imagine how this is going to go. 

"don't apologize, sweetie!," jesy laughs in surprise, and harry deflates a little, trying not to be so tense. suddenly, and jesy must feel it, too, because she immediately stops laughing, the atmosphere turns serious. "you know why you're here, don't you?," she asks, raising up a little bit, putting her crossed arms on her knees, looking at harry with concentration. he nods, sucking in his bottom lip. "okay ─ i don't want this to go the way you're probably assuming that it will. why don't you start out by telling me a little about yourself?," she asks softly, which surprises harry greatly. he assumed that jesy would be cold-cut and brutal. 

"o─okay...," he murmurs, twisting at the ring on his middle finger rather roughly. "what do you want to know?," he swallows, and jesy purses her lips. 

"hmm... start out with small facts. what do you want to do with your life? what do you look for in a person? what are your intentions with louis?," she counts, and harry nearly sputters at the word intention. 

"i don't have any intention with louis. i like him a lot, and i enjoy his company ─ so i asked him out, not so that i could get any gain out of it aside from getting to spend time with him," he says defensively, and then his eyes widen and he clamps his jaw tight and he shakes his head. "i'm sorry! that sounded rude and mean ─ i'm sorry, i promise that i'm not mean!," he cries, covering his face with his hands. 

jesy furrows her eyebrows and leans forwards on her feet to touch harry on the arm lightly. "hey, i know you weren't being mean. i'm glad you reacted like that, actually. it proves that you aren't after... it means that you like him for him. that's all i can ask for," she says, patting harry's shoulder, and he smiles microscopically, ducking his head again. "but if you mess this up i will snap your neck," she adds, and ─ yep ─ there it is. 

"i don't plan on messing it up... i've been... i've liked louis for quite some time," he confesses to her, and she blinks, settling back onto the couch. "it's just... i─i've just had this respect for him. every time i saw him in the hallways, wearing a dress or high heels, or wearing lipstick or something... it made me feel like nobody was like him... that he was too brave. and then ─ and then, i started to realize that i liked how he looked in dresses and heels and lipstick and... and... i knew that he didn't like me. he detested me, and i think it's because we are so different... but i'm really glad he ran into me that day ─ that he's given me a chance at all, really. um, sorry for rambling...," he blushes, realizing that he has completely opened up to jesy, who looks just as surprised.

❁

❁

❁

"your hair is so curly," louis murmurs, facing harry on his lap, twiddling his hair gently, making sure not to pull it. "it's very... soft. bouncy," he adds, making harry grin at him, wanting to squeeze a pillow to his chest and scream because fond. "and look how nice your eyebrows are," he continues, which makes harry's brows furrow, ironically. 

"my eyebrows?," he asks in confusion, and louis nods, poking harry right between the eyes ─ but not harsh or violently. 

"yeah, you have really good eyebrows. and i bet you could cut my finger with your jawline. i could prick my finger! and look at the dimples!," he coos, sticking both of his index fingers into the creases in harry's cheek which are caused from his gigantic smile. "what are you grinning so big for?," he asks, and his lips tug up a little, and he squeaks when harry suddenly starts to tickle his sides. 

"why do you think i'm smiling so big for?," he says sarcastically, playfully nibbling on louis' jaw. louis laughs a little, cries a little, and begs a little as he is assaulted by harry's fingertips on his sensitive sides. he breathes in a quick breathy laugh as harry finally quits, suddenly wrapping him up in his arms, bringing him to his chest. "i'm just happy to be with you," he whispers as answer, shaking louis from side to side like a rag doll. 

"sap," louis huffs, thankful that his blush is hidden. "absolute sap," he accuses, but he squeaks again as harry gives his side another tickle. he wiggles out of harry's embrace to lean back and scowl at him, pointing a finger at him. "you better watch it, styles," he warns right as the front door opens, and he dives back into harry's neck as calum, michael, and a few members of the football team come in. 

"whoa! what are you doing?," calum shrieks as they all cover their eyes, misinterpreting their interpretive positions, louis straddling harry on the couch in the middle of the day. "take it to your room ─ "

" ─ we weren't doing anything but talking!," harry interrupts, and calum stops shouting profanities, stomping his foot and rolling his eyes in dramatic relief. "what happened to playing on the pitch until five, anyways?," he asks as everyone enters the flat, and someone shuts the door after themselves. 

calum squares his eyes at him. "were you planning on christening our couch?," he asks, putting both of his hands on his lithe hips, and harry huffs at him. 

"no, but i was planning on cooking dinner and settling down for a movie," he says, nudging his head to indicate to louis, who is still buried in his neck. "doesn't that sound good, baby?," harry asks, rubbing his strong fingers up and down louis' spine. he's wearing a thin, lilac colored t-shirt paired with dark denim pants that ─ literally, like, literally ─ look painted on.

"we can totally still do that!," michael jumps in, coming back from the kitchen with an apple in one hand, a bag of cheetos in the other, handing the apple to calum, turning to look at harry. "what are you cooking? what movie were you planning on watching? is he okay?," he says rapid fire, and harry rolls his eyes. 

he gently shakes louis' shoulder, trying to get him to come back out. "the footballers are here," louis whispers, and harry tries to look at him, but he can't see his face. 

"it's okay, lou, they're good guys ─ would i associate with anyone negative?," harry asks, and louis purses his lips, tentatively shaking his head, slowly resurfacing. "it's just us and calum and michael in here, the rest of the guys are probably raiding our fridge ─ eating us out of house and home...," he says dramatically, which makes louis grin a little. "hey," harry suddenly says, looking up at a chatting calum and michael, drawing their attentions, "who all did you bring?"

"um...," michael says, thinking, "troy, sam, ollie, brandon, kenneth, jason, derek... did donnie tag along?," he directs to calum, who nods, pointing into the kitchen. 

"he's the one drinking the o-j from the carton," he says, jabbing his thumb as reference, "and why is jason pulling out the egg carton?"

harry's eyes widen and he stands up suddenly, holding onto louis' legs quickly, having forgot he was on his lap, and he's surprised by how easily he can carry him. "we'll see you guys later," harry says, really not in the mood to throw a fit in front of louis. he knows that they don't have ill intentions, but the footballers that calum and michael seem to have befriended often urk his nerves.

"where are we going?," louis asks as harry gently lowers him to the ground in front of the coat rack. he doesn't protest as harry grabs his light purple jumper off of the hanger, helping it over his head, making sure not to mess up his hair an/or make-up. 

harry shrugs, pulling his own jacket down from the coat rack ─ a beat up looking denim garment lined with white cotton ─ buttoning it up three buttons at the bottom. "um, we don't have to go anywhere in particular? we could go to yours?," he suggests innocently, fiddling with the inside of his coat pocket, missing the way louis' eyes widen. 

if harry comes over, he will see all of his girly things ─ high heels, posters, skirts, make-up, underwear. 

"u─um... sure. jesy might be there," he says nervously as harry finally adjusts his pocket and loops his arms with louis', reaching forward to open the door for him. "thank-you," he murmurs, pressing into harry as the nippy weather bites into his bare skin. "it's so cold...," he grumbles, and harry grins, shuts the door, and wraps his arms around his waist, kissing his head. 

they keep such a close proximity walking through the parking lot, trying to share body heat, and louis starts to think. harry asked him on a date, yet he hasn't made any say about the time, day, location... nothing. "it is sort of cold," harry agrees, oblivious to louis' inward pondering. "are you hungry?," he asks as they get to harry's beat up truck, covered in a little snow, and harry ─ of course ─ opens louis' door for him. 

louis shrugs his shoulders a little. "we can still cook supper, i do have a working kitchen at my flat...," louis murmurs softly, sarcastically, and harry narrows his eyes at him, making louis' face break out in a grin. 

wordlessly, harry leans forward and kisses louis' cheek, and louis blushes as harry shuts his door and scrambles around to his side of the truck. he rubs his fingers together quickly, trying to warm them as he dramatically shivers, and he then puts the keys into the ignition, making the old truck give a shady grumble sound and shudder ─ but it starts regardless. "what do you wanna cook?," harry asks, turning the air on in the car, even though the engine hasn't warmed up enough to give out warm air. 

"um... we have bread dough... sweet corn... other veggies... i think some pizza supplies... we need to go grocery shopping," he lists off, huffing and throwing his hands in the air at the end. "i don't really cook, by the way, so i'll just stand back and watch you do your thing," he says as harry reverses, looking behind them so he doesn't hit anything. 

"then what is your thing?," harry asks, looking forward, setting the car to drive, looking over at louis with amusement. 

"isn't it obvious?," louis asks dramatically, rolling his hands in circles. harry furrows his eyebrows. "looking pretty!"

❁

❁

❁

"you really need to go grocery shopping," harry informs louis, raising up from his crouched position, leaning backwards to stretch his spinal-cord. "but... sweet corn are tears of jesus, so we have a start," he says, putting the can of corn onto the bar ─ which is rather cluttered. "and you should really clean up, packrat," he adds teasingly, but louis takes the bait. 

"then you should be happy to help me clean up a little after the food is cooked?," he assumes, raising both of his eyebrows, making harry sigh. "you're such a babe," louis smiles in surprise, reaching forward to squeeze harry's cheek, which makes the taller boy grin widely, making louis lose his grip on the skin. "okay!," he claps his hands together. "if we hurry, we'll be able to get everything done before nightfall," he says, rushing around harry, making him squawk by slapping his bum. 

"you cheeky boy!," he shouts in surprise, crossing his arms over his chest as louis snickers, pulling a bag of yeast from the cabinet beside the fridge, putting it on the counter, moving to the fridge to pull out vegan pepperoni, then a package of pre-shredded oil cheese. "hey, does vegan pizza taste any different from regular?," harry asks, and louis purses his lips, closing the door to the fridge, dumping the things onto the table. 

"harry...," he mutters, shutting his eyes for a second, "i'm a vegan. i've never tasted regular pizza. but, if you're asking if it tastes good ─ obviously it does, how else would you explain all of this?," he continues, patting his tummy, making harry's face harden. 

"you aren't fat," he says sternly, and louis' eyes widen at the seriousness.

"harry ─ "

"you're not fat," harry interrupts, and louis huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. harry's stern face breaks into a soft smile. "c'mon, don't pout," he whines, and louis turns his back to him. "don't be mad at me, i didn't do anything," he continues, and louis wants to throw a handful of flower on him, just to see how he'd react. 

"how do we start?," louis asks, picking up the bag of yeast, changing the subject. smooth. 

"um... do you have any aprons? that's a good place," he says, and louis nods, kind of embarrassed. all their aprons are frilly and flowery. "let's get to cooking your first meal!"

⚥

"harry, harry, harry, harry," louis babbles aimlessly, and harry ignores him - he's been doing this for several minutes. "harry, harry, harry, harry," he sing songs, swaying his head from side to side to the beat of the timer clicking down the seconds to the pizza being done. 

harry's face finally cracks into a grin, and louis squeals. "louis, louis, louis, louis, louis!," harry counters, making louis squirm as he tickles at his side - which aren't protected by the thick, floral, lacy apron. "louis, louis, louis - "

"harry, harry, harry - ," louis interrupts through a fit of laughter, and harry tugs at his left ear lobe, noticing that his ears are pierced. "ow! you pulled my earring!," louis gasps, reaching for his ear quickly. 

"sorry!," harry's eyes widen, reaching for louis, only to withdraw as the smaller boy bursts out in laughter. "you little..."

"cutie?," louis inserts hopefully, which causes harry to scowl. "what?," louis squawks, "i'm cute! i'm cute," he huffs, crossing his arms over the fabric of the laced apron - the one identical to the one tied around harry's waist. 

harry squints his eyes at him and steps closer, between louis' legs, and his hair tickles louis' forehead. after a few seconds, louis blinks several times, his eyes dazed, and his eyebrows furrow as harry's face breaks into a grin. "you're cute," he agrees peppily, and louis pouts at him. "you're - "

"oh, jesus!," a voice shouts in surprise, and harry flinches away from the counter and louis, like a deer in headlights, looking at jesy startled. "jesus christ, not on the table!," she shrieks, covering her eyes dramatically, waving her free hand around wildly. 

louis blushes profusely and grabs at the neck tie of harry's apron, trying to pull him back towards him. "oi, nelson, grow up. we weren't doing anything!," he scoffs, and jesy slowly lowers her arms and dramatically peeks an eye open. "it's safe to look," louis huffs, in annoyance, hopping off the table so jesy can put her bags there. "you went to hollister?," he asks in disgust, and jesy rolls her eyes at him. 

"yeah, yeah, yeah. i know you don't like shopping there because of the... incident... but i still like their clothes. leigh is bringing the rest up. i payed for lunch, so she has to carry," jesy smirks, grabbing an apple from their fruit bowl. 

harry furrows his eyebrows and looks between louis and jesy a few times, and neither seem to notice him. he huffs and rolls his eyes to get their attention, "that is the incident?," he asks, and louis looks at him for a second and then looks at his lap, picking at his fingernail polish. "lou?," he murmurs quietly, and louis twists his bottom lip a little. 

he sighs faintly in the back of his throat and purses his lips. "about six or seven months ago, we were shopping for jesy's birthday... we were going from store to store, buying whatever she wanted. it's a tradition. and a cashier came up and started flirting with us, me, jesy, leigh, and cher. but he settled on trying to pull me. he tried to do this smooth thing where he laughed and pushed my chest... but then he realized that i don't have boobs... god, he caused such a scene. he knocked clothes off hangers, perfume bottles were spilling, it was like a toxic wasteland. i've sworn off hollister since that day," louis chuckles as harry booms laughter, clutching his stomach. 

"i remember that! it took them weeks to clear the smell out! and it was on one of those video shows on tv! i had no idea that that was you!," he chokes, laughing louder; the incident had made it onto the internet, but it didn't get very big, just on a lame 30 minute tv show on mtv. 

louis chuckles and nods his head, shrugging a little. he's trying to think of something to say when the door to the living room slams open and then slams shut again, indicating that leigh-anne has made it up. "do i smell pizza?," she asks hopefully, causing jesy to scowl at her. 

"we just ate," she addresses, but leigh-anne just shrugs, dumping the arms full of bags onto the floor in front of the cabinets. "that's what's not fair! i can't look at a cheese cake without gaining a stone, and you lot just eat and eat!," she huffs, but then turns to louis, "you made your company cook for you?," she raises and eyebrow and louis squawks in protest. 

"no! cooked it all by myself! with a little guidance... but this is a tommo first! vegan pepperoni pizza, with extra oil cheese," he smiles, and harry kisses the side of his head softly, making him blush. 

"oh!," leigh-anne stammers, suddenly taking notice of harry - who is standing quite close to louis. which is odd, because the last time she checked... louis thought that harry was a dirty hillbilly hick that lived on a farm, in a red barn sleeping with pigs. "um, i... hello... i'm leigh-anne... pinnock... but you can call me leigh if you want," she smiles awkwardly, but harry doesn't seem to mind, he stretches an arm out to shake her hand. 

"harry styles, it's a pleasure," he says politely, and leigh-anne gives louis an impressed glance, returning her smile to harry. 

"say," she says quietly, to jesy, "is this the boy who asked him out on a date?," she asks, and louis' cheeks flame up at his friends inability to be inconspicuous.

"yeah, that's me," harry answers before jesy can, he figures that it's his place. "i was going to ask you... talk to you abo... where would you like to go on a date with me? i was thinking that i should surprise you, but i'm afraid that i'll, like, take you to a golf club or something...," harry blushes at his truthfulness, and louis seems just as bashful. 

he sucks his lips in to try to hid how big he's smiling. "i... i don't care," he whispers, and his cheeks actually start to burn as jesy and leigh-anne both coo at them, rather loudly. "don't you two have anything better to do?," louis scowls in defensiveness, "you have a date with jake tonight don't you?," he asks innocently, just to get under her skin. 

"it's not a date!," she huffs in annoyance automatically. 

harry looks between the three others, and furrows his eyebrows, nudging louis a little. "who's jake?," he asks in confusion, blinking as everyone looks at him, jesy with a bit of annoyed anger. 

"jake roche. you know him, he's in our thursday biology class," louis says, and harry nods. 

"the one who always wears the fedora?," he asks, and louis nods, leaning down to check on the pizza. "i love fedoras," harry explains, even though everyone knows. 

louis hums a laugh, looking from the timer (4 more minutes) to harry. "i think everyone in town has seen you in your fedora. at the library, mostly?," louis smiles, inwardly biting his tongue to keep himself from making the comment that he looks like a rice farmer. "what books do you read?," he implores, curious since he doesn't know much about harry. 

"ah...," harry murmurs, aware of jesy and leigh-anne watching them. "it's kinda embarrassing...," he adds, and louis furrows his eyebrows. 

"can i take a guess that it's fifty shades of gray?," he assumes, and harry sputters at that, his cheeks red hot as he shakes his head. "well don't look so offended, i really enjoyed it!," louis huffs, quite ruffled and embarrassed himself.

"you read it - no, mine is embarrassing because it's, like... young adult books. like the hunger games by su - "

" - zanne collins! who doesn't love the hunger games? what about the m - "

"the maze runner? oh, my god! that is one of my all time favorites! and divergent! have you read divergent?"

"who hasn't read divergent? i didn't like how it ended, though... but tobias!," louis huffs out a groan, and harry nods in agreement. 

"i think tobias is my favorite character, ever," harry declares, and louis narrows his eyes at him. "what?," harry laughs in surprise. 

"how could you say that when peeta mellark exists?," he crosses his arms over his chest, cocking an eyebrow. "literally how could you?," he adds, and harry narrows his eyes at him. 

"but tobias - "

"peeta. end of it," louis demands, but harry crosses his arms. 

"tobias," he sasses, making louis' eyebrows raise. 

"peeta," he growls playfully, stepping towards harry, oblivious to jesy and leigh-anne's surprised looks. 

"tobias," harry rebukes, stepping closer, too. 

"peeta"

"tobias"

"peeta!"

"tobias!"

"pee - ," the pizza's timer rudely interrupts their lighthearted quarrel and they both jump in surprise and blink as they notice that they're nearly chest to chest, nose to nose. harry chuckles nervously and blinks lazily and louis smiles laxly, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. "peeta," he whispers, his grin turned mischievous, but still soft, his eyes looking all over harry's face. "but tobias is pretty great, too"

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"louis, quit stressing it so much," louis hears jesy huff from across their room, but he ignores her, blowing air from his mouth onto his wet nails. he doesn't know if the black was a good idea, he's got this new red color that jesy got him, but he figured black would be more sleek, more classy looking. "why don't you wear... this with... with... where is it... hm... oh! wear those with this," she says, surfacing from louis' side of their small closet with a pair of jeans that are so tight that they could literally be passed as leggings - they don't even have pockets - and a black undershirt with a fleece, thick knitted purple over shirt that will come to about mid-thigh. 

"yeah...," louis murmurs, calculating it in his mind, his eyes raking over the outfit. "thank you so much, you are such a life saver," he compliments softly, using the palm of his hand to get his hair out of his face, to not smear his nail polish. jesy gives him a gentle pat on the back. "could you help me with my hair in a minute?," he asks, fiddling with the towel around his waist. 

jesy smiles widely. "i'd love to. if you hurry and get dressed, i'll probably have time to try that winged eyeliner look that jade showed me the other day," she promises and louis perks up, he knows how good jesy can do make up. "hey, hey, hey!," she huffs as louis suddenly starts shooing her out, "hey, don't shove, i'm going, i'm going!," she scowls, giving louis a stage angry look as she slams the door behind her. 

louis chuckles quietly, and walks back towards his bed, where the outfit has been laid out. he reaches down and runs his hand over the fabric of the purple over-shirt, smiling a little; his youngest sisters got it for him for his birthday a few weeks ago. 

he drops the shirt and walks over to the underwear dresser, gnawing on his bottom lip. if he does go through with wearing those jeans... he can't wear boxers or panties. he furrows his eyebrows and starts to dig through the drawer, shoving jesy's huge bras out of the way, his fingers finally hooking around the thin material of the only underwear that he could wear. 

he blushes at himself as he lets to towel drop and leans down, tossing it into the dirty clothes basket. he steps into the thong one foot at a time and reminds himself that it's just like other underwear, just smaller. 

he quickly skirts over to the bed again, away from the dresser, and picks up the black undershirt, pulling it over his still-wet hair, trying to avoid touching the two together as much as possible. with his torso less exposed to the chill of the room, he grabs the jeans off the bed and looks at them uncertainly, but slips one foot into a leg hole nonetheless. 

jumping up and down, embarrassingly, louis gets the first leg in, breathing in and out heavily. he huffs and falls on his back on the bed, trying to shimmy the last leg up his thigh. he wiggles his hips like a worm breaking through earth to get them past his hip and flops backwards with a groan, his muscles actually aching from all of that.

"jesy, can you come help?," louis calls, raising up with still flushed cheeks to pull on the long sleeve over-shirt, taking the same avoidance maneuvers to avoid getting the shirt wet. "he'll be here in under an hour," louis reminds as jesy comes back into the room, her make-up back in one hand, her hair dryer and hair gel in the other. "do i look okay?," he asks quietly, fiddling with the bottom of his shirt nervously. 

"you look great louis, i'm a style genius, you can trust any outfit i put together," she says humbly, and louis rolls his eyes at her, and he would swat her away if she wasn't doing him a solid. "now let's get you all prettied up for your prince charming?," she hums, and louis looks at his lap, a goofy, giddy grin on his lips.


	7. Chapter 7

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"i can't feel my legs," louis murmurs, using the tips of his fingers to try to adjust his pants, but he only ends up pinching himself since the material is so skin tight and thin. 

jesy huffs and rolls her eyes, using all of her focus to do louis' eye make-up. "if you'd be still...," she scowls, trying to make the eyeliner look perfect. "why are your eyelashes so long?," she pouts, painting the upper rims of louis' eyes with grey, growling as he laughs, moving his head. "i swear, if you don't be still i'm gonna rip them off," she threatens, and louis huffs out, crossing his arms over his chest. jesy rolls her eyes again, trying to get the make-up done quickly. "do you want the extra volume mascara or the - "

"oh, god," louis breathes to himself as the doorbell interrupts jesy, who looks at louis' frightened facial expression and touches his cheek, then twists a bottle of mascara open, waiting for louis' eyes to flutter closed. "oh god," louis repeats as they hear leigh-anne letting harry in. 

jesy finishes with his eyes and softly boops his nose so he'll open them, and her face softens as they flutter, and she smiles tightly, so proud and happy for louis. "you'll be fine, baby, it's harry. you know that harry is just a total sweetheart," she chuckles and. louis shrugs. 

"i...," louis murmurs, but doesn't say anything else. 

"it's in his dna," jesy rolls her eyes, grabbing louis' face to get him to be still, to look at her work, "not a mean bone in his body"

louis sighs quietly, biting his red bottom lip. "i'm just nervous, jes," he pouts, wringing his hands together tightly, letting her dress his face up. "i'm okay...," he adds, shrugging. 

"you'll go out and have fun, just like you usually do. and if anything happens, i'll snap his neck," she smiles, capping the mascara back up, holding her hands out to help louis up. "c'mon, he's waiting for you," she encourages, patting his bum as they leave the room. 

louis purses his lips and nods, fiddling with the sleeves of his over-shirt. jesy loops her arm with his and leads him through the house like a father leading his daughter down the alter. louis can tell by the tile of the floor that they're in the kitchen and he looks up in surprise as jesy lets her arm fall and nudges him forward, tripping him up on his heel. with a mad blush, he looks up from his hunkered position, and harry looks surprised and surprising. "h-hi," louis stutters, his cheeks burning as he straightens up, looking over harry - checking him out.

dark black skinny jeans, clean black boots, a dark button up shirt with white hearts on it, the top part his long hair tied in a ponytail, and he kind of looks like a 'starving artist'. louis' knees weaken and his pinkie finger twitches. 

harry grins bashfully, but goofily, and louis notices the flowers. "you look very pretty," he compliments sincerely, wanting to touch louis' soft skin, "you make my flowers look bad," he pouts, handing them over to louis 'grudgingly', but his grin is back 2 seconds later and he's giggling at himself. "but, really, you look beautiful," he adds, and louis rolls his eyes, cradling the flowers to his chest like they're a baby. "they're called amaryllis. they symbolize beauty, so i figured they'd be perfect for you...," he shrugs with a goofy grin, and jesy and leigh-anne clutch at each other to keep from falling over. 

louis blushes even worse and brings the flowers the flowers up to his nose, sniffing them to hide his red cheeks. "you look very handsome," louis says quietly, "i like your hair like that," he adds truthfully; he likes this more than the usual head scarf or green bay packers beanie. 

harry grins wider then, and it looks like it hurts. "are you ready to go, love?," he nearly whispers, and louis looks over at the two girl at the corner of the kitchen. 

taking photos with their phones. 

"jesy! leigh!," louis whines in embarrassment, and he squeaks in surprise as harry pulls him towards him and kisses his cheek for the cameras, pulling his own phone out to take a selfie, catching louis by surprise, his lips parted a little, his eyes wide and bright. beautiful. "hey," he pouts, grabbing for harry's phone, huffing as harry holds it to the air, touching the roof. "harry, he juts his bottom lip out, and harry blinks several times. 

"heeey," he drawls, scowling, "no cheating!," he protests as louis pouts. "look!," he insists, pulling up the photo, making louis look at it. "it's so cute! and i can't delete it - it's our first selfie together! it holds sentiment," he protests, and louis rolls his eyes; he has to agree that the picture is cute. "now c'mon my snowflake, let's head out?," he smiles happily again, and louis nods, looking down at the flowers in his hands. 

"i'll take those, i'll put them in a glass. you go have fun," jesy steps forward, and louis hesitantly hands them over, and blinks in surprise as jesy pulls him into a hug, whispering in his ear, "if he screws this up, kick him in the balls and call me, i'll come pick you up" pulling back like nothing happened, jesy smacks his bum and pinches his blushing cheek, giving harry a stern look, but melts it into a friendly one.

"i'll have him home before midnight," harry jokingly promises, and he holds his arms open for louis, who embraces him for the first time since the taller boy left earlier. he can admit that he missed harry's touch, how his arm is always over his shoulder or round his waist. he's opted for the waist now. "see you guys later," he smiles charmingly, and jesy rolls her eyes. 

"yeah, yeah, yeah. have fun. love you, lou," she smiles with a heavy lip, so glad that louis is happy that she could cry. 

louis smiles at her and she startles as he walks forward suddenly and wraps her in a tight embrace around her neck, swaying them from side to side. "love you, too," he chuckles wetly, stepping away, back into harry's welcoming embrace, tucking the side of his face into harry's pec. 

"go on, go on, we'll keep you here all night," leigh-anne speaks up, quite in awe of how soft and sweet the atmosphere is, "we'll keep the fort held," she salutes. 

"that's a relief," louis laughs at her sarcasm, but nods regardless, giving both girls a kiss on the cheek over the kitchen island, leading harry towards the door right after, waving at them from behind his back. "they're going to throw a literal party - i'll put money on it," he rolls his eyes and harry snickers, reaching forward to open the door from the smaller bloke. "thank-you," he smilies, waiting for harry to come out.

harry laughs airily and looks at the ground as they walk, and louis watches him curiously, how his focus goes from the ground, to louis' swaying hand beside his, to the floor again, he also notices how he's fiddling with his hands, like he's trying to occupy them. so, mustering up all of his courage, louis grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. "i...," harry stammers in surprise, and his cheeks redden as he realizes what's happened. louis looks up at him to gauge his reaction, and his heart flutters at the soft, relaxed look on his beautiful face. 

they walk to the lift in silence, their fingers clasped together. it takes the shady machine a few moments to clink its way up, and it opens with a shudder, making louis give harry and embarrassed smiles, which is basically ignored. they clamber into the small compartment and press closely together; the other people in the lift smell like what louis would imagine pot would smell like. 

he's immensely glad that harry is with him right now, because these are some of his more... touchy neighbors. he has to cross his fingers that they won't say anything, won't start anything, and his wish seems to be granted, they look to be too high to register anything anyways. harry holds louis closer, obvious on edge, and they both breathe sighs of relief as they lift stops on the 3rd floor and the grungy people bump each other and the couple as they exit, leaving a remnant swirl of smoke and nauseous fumes. 

"could've gone worse," louis shrugs as the lift's door closes again and harry laughs in agreement, nodding his head. they spend the last twenty seconds in the lift in comfortable silence, trying to ignore the only sound: the pings and clicks coming from the elevator. "that thing is a death trap...," louis mutters as it opens up and harry leads them out, through the lobby, blinking snowflakes away as they land on their eyelashes. harry, again, nods in agreement. he's not too fond of the thing. not too fond off the whole complex, actually. he knows that louis deserves better. trying to keep his face happy, harry swings their arms with one hand and grabs his keys out of his pocket with the other, clicking the unlock button. "what... where... what?," louis stammers as only one car's head lights turn on and beeps.

harry smirks happily, leading louis towards the sleek black car. "it's my friend zayn's. he own that tattoo shop we went into the other day? yeah. he let me borrow it," he says proudly. it takes a of of bribing, blackmailing, and guilting to get zayn to do anything.

louis nods slowly, eyeing the car up as they approach it. "it's beautiful," he comments, and harry nods, reaching forward to open his door for him, sadly, letting go of his hand. louis duck his head and blushes, tucking himself into the passenger seat. harry makes sure that he's securely in before he closes the door, and he jogs around the front to get to his side, and a cold gust of wind follows him as he climbs into the driver's seat.

"okay...," harry murmurs, trying to psych himself up. louis smiles to himself as harry runs a hand through his tied back hair - it's a habit. "let's go," he smiles, eyes excited. 

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louis smiles as harry starts to sing along to the music again - he only does it when he doesn't think that louis is watching. he also told him that the cd is a band called the lumineers when louis furrowed his eyebrows at the unfamiliar songs earlier. louis looks down at the cd disc that harry let him hold and looks at the song; dead sea.

louis bites at his bottom lip for lack of something better to do, then looks outside, at the snow as it falls from the sky, hitting the window before disappearing. "hey, louis?," harry asks after a while, and louis blinks his eyes a few times to focus and turns to fave harry. "will you tell me about yourself?," he asks, looking between louis and the road a few times, settling his gaze back onto the icy cement path.

"um... okay... well, i like panic at th - "

"no, no, no sweets. i don't mean music... like... tell me about yourself. favorite color? celebrity? year you would like to live in?," harry lists, and louis hums in consideration; he hasn't been asked any of those questions since grade school. 

folding his hands over his lap, he nods, shrugging his shoulders. "my favorite color... purple, probably... or green. what's yours?," he says, totally not referring to the color of harry's eyes. at all. 

harry nods and he looks like louis has told him the most interesting thing ever. "i like both of those. my favorite is probably, like, a light, light orange. or a bright blue," harry says, using his left hand to turn on the windshield wiper to try to see through the snow assaulting the windshield. "favorite celebrity?," he asks, steadying his hands on the wheel. 

"brendon urie," he says, without a blink. "or brandon flowers. lorde, love her... pat stump, too. who is yours?," he smiles, and harry shrugs a little, he's smiling, too. 

"mm... probably matt healy. legend, he is. or taylor swift, i like how she can write from personal experience," harry says distracted almost, trying to focus on the road. 

"matt healy? from the nineteen-seventy-five?," louis asks, and harry nods, smiling, "i love them!," he laughs, but his face drops and he squeals as the car suddenly hydroplanes, and harry throws his hands in the air, and reaches over to drape himself as best over louis as he can.

 

⚥

snow continues to collect on the remnants of the smashed car housing the two boys nearly 45 minutes after the wreck. 

with no sign of help to be found, the crackling radio is the only sound to be heard. " - sections of i 22 and corridor x are shut down in northern london. the cities of brighton, livengton, carv, tacom chapel, and the western half of london are under a state of emergency. do not get on the road if you are in any of those cities, do not leave your current location wherever you are; this blizzard is only going to get worse," says a radio new reporter through the off-station channel.

the longer the two stay unconscious, the worse the conditions get; higher snow and ice build up, lower temperatures. distantly, there's the sound of a dog barking, but - past that - the radio is still the only thing to be heard; the male reporter continuing his rant on the importance of staying indoors and off the road. 

after a while, even the radio dies off and not ten minutes later louis is the first of the two to come back into consciousness. 

the first thing that he is aware of as he dizzily focuses is the fact that his ears are buzzing and his head hurts. 

in confusion, he blinks several times and uses his hands to push himself away from the window pane of the car, and winces, looking down at the palms of them, blinking slowly. his hands are covered in cuts, and he's bleeding. and he's blanketed with freezing snow. and harry. 

his breath catches inside of his throat, and he's surprised when cold air assaults his already struggling lungs. he sniffles a little, his nose starting to run, and turns to look away from harry, to where the window is. 

was.

he blinks a few times, not quite putting the pieces together. "hey, harry, m'cold," he says with a scratchy voice, wincing at how cold and dry the back of his throat is. "harry, c'mon, get off of me... roll my window up! and gimme a bandaid... my hands are all cut up," he coughs a little, putting a numb hand to his forehead, where it's stinging a little, and hums in confusion when he feels a liquid, and he doesn't react when he puts his hand to his face and sees blood running down his fingers. "harry...," he murmurs, laying his head backwards, against the headrest of his seat.

he watches as more snow floats into the opening where the window was and follows it as it lands on his lap, adding a new layer to his legs and harry's upper body. he blinks his eyes in exhaustion and closes his eyes, not even questioning why he's going unconscious.

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❁

the next time he wakes up is nearly an hour later, and he can barely get his eyes to open. maybe they're frozen shut?

he groans quietly, listening to someone near him talk. " - n-near trial center... about two and a quarter miles from the city plaza," the person says, and louis lifts his head and finally opens his eyes, nearly blinded by all the white - so much snow. "fifty minutes!," shouts the person, right as louis realizes that he's in someone's arms, swaying with their movements as they walk. 

he squints his eyes and turns his head to be face to face with harry, who is holding him with one arm, talking into his phone with the other. "harry?," he groans in numb agony, bringing a hand to clutch his forehead, wicing. 

"don't t-touch it, baby... you're okay," he whispers, and louis wraps his arms around his neck, trying to hide from the evil chill. "we n-n-need immediate m-medical attention. no... no, w-we aren't dying, but he's b-bleeding from a cut on his forehead and i think i may have broken ankle," harry reports through shivers, and louis can hear the buzzing sound of someone replying. "no - w-whatever," harry finally snaps, hanging up the call. 

he shoves his phone into his pocket and adjusts louis to him, carrying him like a toddler. "who was that?," louis says into the skin of his neck, his eyes feel heavy and he can't really feel his body - it's so cold. 

"n-n-nine-nine-nine. app-pparently we're under a state of e-emergency. there's too much snow for emergency personnel, and they aren't sending help to people unless it is grave. rubbish," harry spits through chittering teeth, and louis' eyes flutter closed. "hey, b-babes, how's your head feeling, hm? i tried to clean it off a bit...," harry murmurs, nudging at louis a little, trying to keep him awake and responsive. 

"hmm? yeah, i-i'm f-f-fine," louis says absently, his own teeth starting to clank together. "y-you said that your ankle is h-hurt? why are-e you carrying me?," he asks in concern, he wants to look at harry face-to-face, but his neck is the warmest thing touching louis and he can't force himself to move. 

harry purses his lips and shakes his head. "i'm okay. i-it's too cold for me to feel it; it's numb right now. it was just really swollen and kind of purple when i l-looked at it," he recounts, pulling louis closer to him for comfort and a feeble attempt at warming up. 

louis breathes out of his nose, grabbing harry's shirt in his hands, trying to mentally warm himself up - all he can think about is how cold he is, and that harry is potentially hurt. "mm, w-where are we? you can p-put me down," he asks, squirming a little to try and relieve harry of his weight, huffing when he only holds on tighter. 

"you're fine, i don't-t want you to trip and fall with those heels," harry murmurs, and louis furrows his eyebrows, "and there's a small town that should be up here... m-maybe one of the restaurants will let us in," he continues, and louis slowly opens his eyes, and everything is bright and white. 

"i've never seen this much snow...," he whispers, trying to bunker into harry more as it starts to snow again. "the weather-r reports said there-e would be light sleet-t-t really late tonight-t...," he adds, clenching his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering together so violently. "it's s-so cold," he murmurs, and harry sighs quietly, quite angry with the turn of events. 

they were suppose to go out to eat at a very nice restaurant and harry was going to woo the socks off of him. but, instead, he nearly kills him. "z-zayn's going to k-kill me over that car, y-y-y'know?," harry finds himself chuckling oddly, and louis hums quietly to let him know that he's listening to him. harry wants to add 'if we don't die of hypothermia first,' but he refrains himself. the last thing that he wants to do is frighten louis more. "i'm s-sorry that this date has been such a bust..."

"if you can get us to w-warmth i'll consider this date a massive success," louis snorts lightheartedly, pulling at the hairs at the back of harry's head; the ones not pulled back in a ponytail, then burrows further into him, clenching his eyes shut. 

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❁

it takes all of half an hour before harry can't walk anymore. at all. with or without louis' body weight added. "i c-c-c-an't," harry stutters through his violent shivers, and louis blinks several times; his eyes feel like they're about frozen. 

"y-y-you h-hav-e t-to," louis demands weakly. he feels like giving up, too. "y-y-you've gotten-n us th-this f-far, l-love, c'mon, please g-get up," he struggles to help harry up from where his knees buckled, and they landed in a bank of snow. "h-harry i c-can't pick you up, y-y-you're g-going to have to stand," he shivers, and he'd start crying if he could; he can feel his eyes prickling painfully. 

harry sighs sleepily and pulls louis, by his arm, into his embrace. "i c-can't-t... say... it's v-v-very c-cold out here... why don't-t we go inside?," he asks in a sudden delusion. louis deflates automatically and lets harry pet at his hair. he didn't even think of the possibility of harry having a concussion. 

"harry... lemme go...," louis murmurs, suddenly having the inner fight to find help spread in his gut like a fire. whether it be the fact that he doesn't want his and harry's bodies to be found, frozen solid, or the fact he just doesn't want harry nor himself to die... he isn't sure. louis clenches his jaw as harry protests, and he tries to wiggle away again, and harry - weakened significantly from carrying so much weight earlier - slumps down a little, watching louis with absent eyes.

once he's freed, he stands up straight and looks around, using the extra height from his heels as an advantage. using his memory, he tries to melt the snow with his head, tries to recognize where they're at, and once his eyes fall on the snow covered but still identifiable water fountain, hits him. they're in the plaza! "lou...," harry huffs in irritation, and louis looks down at him, and his large hands are making grabby hands. 

louis suddenly feels the horror wash over him. harry's lips, which are usually bright pink, are nearly purple. his whole face, which was red earlier, is now stark white, his eyes wide but thoughtless. "h-h-harry, you w-were right! i know where w-we're at! there's a restaurant j-just over the corner, not even a block from here - you need to get up, love," he rambles, using the cut up parts of his hands to try and get harry to stand up, but he just blinks at him, snow sticking to his eyelashes.

 

⚥

it only takes about .002 seconds for louis to lose all will to survive. 

any fight that had previously been in him is shattered and buried in snow; just like the windows of zayn's car. 

with whatever strength is left in him, he hobbles over to harry, pressing right up to him. he closes his eyes tight as a wave of violent, quaking shivers wracks his body. he can't remember a single moment in his life where he felt anywhere near this cold or hopeless. 

he can't even tell if harry is still alive. the taller boy isn't moving, not even shivering, and louis can't bring himself to look at his face. 

so, doing the one thing he can think to do, he opens his eyes and fumbles around his waist until he finds his purse, and he reaches the challenge of unzipping it without feeling. his fingers are so numb that it's painful, and he can't even feel that he's unzipped the bag or holding the mobile - he can barely see through the blizzard. 

but he has done both, and he drearily brings the phone closer to his face, blinking several times to try to get snowflakes off his eyelashes. 

he tries to click the centre button to turn it on, but his thumb doesn't want to cooperate. with a frustrated cry, he tries and tries to put enough pressure on his thumb to illuminate the screen, and he actually does start crying as he succeeds, his screensaver becoming a beacon of hope; it's a picture of he, jesy, leigh-anne, and their friend leslie at his birthday party a few weeks ago. 

he shudders a breath and robotically swipes his finger on the unlock screen, and it barely moves, and he grits his teeth and tries again, fighting off the violent shivers. "yes...," he hisses under his breath as he gets it to the final trial; the passcode. 

that's quite easy, considering he doesn't have to press or swipe anything. with the same mechanic, frozen up body movements as before he types in "0-7-2-3" and his frozen ears hear the glorious click sound of his phone unlocking, his home screen even more welcome than his lock one. 

suddenly he curls more into harry as the wind picks up even more, making it difficult to see a meter ahead. he curses himself for not bringing even a jumper. he tucks himself under harry's chin and brings his stiff thumb to the familiarly placed phone app. 

he can taste the blood on his tongue from his splitting lips as he clicks on the 'favorites' star, clicking on the contact that says 'mummy,' requesting a facetime.

he uses his free hand to try to make himself look a little more presentable as he sees his face, the dinging sound that means the call is being sent. his hair is flat against his bloody forehead and his skin is very pale, except for his rosy red, frost bitten cheeks, lips, and nose. 

as customary from his mum, she answers before it's rang 5 times, and happily says, "hey baby, what's up? has the snow storm his you yet?," before the screen has gotten focused, and louis laughs a little. 

"h-h-hi, mummy," he says, sounding childish, "and... y-you c-could say that...," he mutters, and the screen focuses, he can see himself in the tiny square on the corner of the screen, his eyes watering and his lip wobbling as he sees his mum's face - watches how her expression turns from happy to horrified. 

"louis! louis! what happened? where are you? are you outside? why are you all bloody?," she cries, and louis smiles at her, shrugging. 

"it's v-v-v-very cold, m-mummy. i wanna go inside, but i c-can't leave h-harry out here by himself-f! i think he's-s taking a w-wee nap," he chuckles, his eyes fluttering a little, "i understand why, mummy, i'm very sleepy, too. c-c-c-could you sing to me, p-please? like you did w-when i was 'ittle?," he requests, and jay gasps in terror as louis' eyes close, the phone dropping from his hand, smacking onto the snow covered pavement.

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"he won't answer...," jesy groans, slumping back into her chair, slamming her phone onto the kitchen island. "why isn't he answering? there's no way they made it into town before this blizzard hit...," she repeats the same thing that she's said about a billion times before. 

leigh-anne sighs, running a hand through her hair, taking a glance out of the window, her spirits dropping even worse than they had. snow has started to stick to the window sill, nearly a fourth of a meter already. "maybe they're just bunkered down in the car?," leigh-anne says hopefully, shaking her head a little. "zayn's car has excellent heating," she adds, but that doesn't effect jesy. 

"this doesn't feel right...," she mutters, burying her face in her hands, clenching her eyes shut. "he would've called back or answered if they had just been stuck in the car," she reasons, and leigh-anne hesitantly nods in agreement, she wants to accept this as much a jesy does. "call zayn, you have his number, haven't you?," she asks, and leigh-anne nods, picking her mobile up, off the table. 

"what do you want me to ask him?," she asks, unlocking her phone with ease, sliding her fingers over the screen until she clicks on the contact app. 

"um, go on and call him. see if he has that on star app or what the hell ever that might be able to track his car down," jesy throws her hands up and leigh-anne nods, pressing the call button, putting her phone to her ear, twiddling with her puffy hair a bit in nervousness. 

"'ello?," grunts zayn as soon as he picks up, and leigh-anne puts the phone on speaker, placing it onto the table and jesy swoops in. 

"zayn," she gasps, picking the phone off the table, putting it close to her face, to not miss a word. 

"eh, okay?," he replies, obviously just roused from a nap or something. 

jesy rolls her eyes, and huffs. "have you heard from harry?," she asks, "or louis?"

"um. i... who is this? and harry's out on a date right now...," he answers, his voice still groggy. 

"this is jesy n - it doesn't matter right now. i'm on leigh-anne pinnock's phone, you know each other. anyway. i know that harry's on a date. in the middle of a blizzard. and he's with my best friend. they left here not long ago and the blizzard...," she petters off, hoping that he'll catch on. 

"blizzard?, what blizzard?," zayn asks, and jesy can hear him grunt as he sits up, probably looking out the window of whatever room he's in. "holy hell...," he mutters, and jesy gnaws on her bottom lip. "how long has it been like this?," he asks, and jesy closes her eyes. 

"about ten minutes," she whispers, "now, please, my best friend, louis, might be hurt. he would've called else-wise. do you have some sort of tracker in your phone?," she asks, and holds her breath, her heart about to beat out of her chest. 

"i have a dashboard camera...," he murmurs, and jesy blinks quickly, "i'll log into it real quick...," he mutters, and only a few moments later do both girls hear the sound of keys on a keyboard being pressed. 

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zayn really hopes that this mystery girl is just psycho. he is torn between hanging up and going back to sleep, but he lugs himself to his laptop and starts typing in his password. "are you at it yet?," asks the girl identified as jesy, and zayn rolls his eyes. 

"not yet. i've just gotten past my password," he informs her, clicking on the safari tab. "okay, just gimme a second...," he whispers to himself a little and goes to the website the people who sold him the camera told him. he quickly types in his log-in information, and the basic layout comes up, with only 3 options: view real-time, view post, log-out. 

he opts for the first link, and clicks on it, bringing a hand up to his face, gnawing on his thumbnail. "okay... it's loading...," he murmurs, and his dark eyebrows furrow in confusion, but then realization sets in, and he gasps quietly. 

"what?," jesy asks quickly, tears collecting in her eyes. "what is it?," she hisses, clenching her fists together. 

"we need to get emergency help. now"


	8. Chapter 8

⚥

" ─ somebody grab her other leg!," louis can hear somebody shouting, and he can sort of feel their hands touching him, but it mostly just feels numb. "we need to hurry, c'mon!," shouts what sounds like the same person, and louis tries to open his eyes, but they won't open. maybe they're frozen shut? or maybe he's just too tired? that's probably it. he's so sleepy. "she's losing consciousness!," louis hears, and his eyebrows furrow as he can kinda feel himself getting picked up, and he tries to shake his head in irritation. 

"harry...," he whispers, and his lips hardly move at all, but one of the strangers seems to hear it, they pat at his cheek, trying to wake him up. 

"sweetheart? hey, love, you need to stay awake. we've got your friend, too, and we need you to stay awake," says a woman, and louis breathes in shakily, trying to open his eyes again, growing frustrated and so, so tired; all of his energy used up by trying to stay warm. 

"mm. where's he?," he asks, his chest rising and falling slowly. 

"he's right ahead of us, he's on a table top that we broke off it's legs ─ my brothers are carrying him," she answers calmly, and louis smiles a little in relieve. well. he would be smiling if his lips could move. 

"how's he?," he slurs, resigning himself to a world of darkness for the time being, not struggling anymore. he waits for several moments, and he wonders if his ears have started to mess up, too. "ma'am?," he whispers, nearly choking on his tongue, his eyes painfully watering. 

she doesn't answer.

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" ─ hello? ma'am? we really need you to wake up, please," louis catches, but the voice is sort of garbled and he can only catch a few words. but, where his body used to be numb, it is now on fire. a high pitched crying noise leaves his mouth and his eyes fly open, and he gasps loudly, raising up with a hacking fit. "good! you're aliv ─ awake! awake!," says the woman from earlier, and louis squints his eyes at the sudden brightness of the room, looking from his lap, over at the direction the voice was from. 

"where's harry?," he says automatically, catching eyes with a woman with strikingly blue eyes. she sighs quietly and puts a hand to her mouth. "what's wrong? where is he? where am i?," he asks, rapid fire, hesitantly looking away from the woman, to look around. 

"this is a restaurant called 17black. i... we got a frantic call from your friends... jamie and leigh-anne?," she says, and louis nods, not bothering to correct her. "you might want to give them a ring, they were in tears," she informs him, and he's suddenly struck by how raw his body feels. "do you... do you wanna use my phone?," she asks, and louis assumes they didn't grab his phone from the cement. it's probably ruined anyways. 

"please...," he whispers, and she nods acutely, and leans back to dig in her front pants pocket, pulling out her mobile, handing it to louis without hesitation. he tries to reach for it, but cries out as soon as he moves, and he really regrets sitting up. 

"here... lemme help you lay back down. i'll call your friends and put them on speaker? how's that? then i'll go an... i'll go see about your friend," she smiles pitifully, and louis nods with a sniffle, clenching his jaw as she supports his spine and shoulders, helping him lie back. "what's their number?," she asks, and louis sniffles again. 

"five-five-five-two-three-eighty-nine," he says slowly, his tongue feeling heavy now that he's on his back. the nameless woman doesn't say anything after that, she just types it in, and as soon as it starts ringing, she puts it on speaker, placing it by his head. "now, please go check on harry," he whispers, closing his eyes. again, the woman doesn't say anything, but she does pat his shoulder as she walks by, and her heels click as se leaves the room. 

after she is gone, the only sound in the room is the ringing on the phone, and louis is nearly positive that he's not going to get an answer when the receiver suddenly picks up, a frantic jesy on the other end, "hello? who is this? did you find them? are they okay? oh, my god, please say that you've found them," she sobs, and louis gives a wet laugh, sniffling again. 

"it's me. i'm okay, jes," he says, blinking his eyes open, a tear spilling down his cheek, soaking into his already wet hair. another wet chuckle leaves him at hearing jesy and leigh-anne's choruses of happy cries. 

"thank god! we ─ you ─ i ─ z-zayn had a dashboard camera in his car... we saw... you two just... we thought... lou, we were so afraid," leigh-anne hiccups, too, and louis feels so guilty for not calling them. and then he remember his mum, that he left her with such a note, and that he needs to get in touch with her as soon as possible. "how's harry?," leigh-anne asks after a few moments, her breath shallow, trying to compose herself.

"i... i don't know... i haven't seen him since... i can't even go walk to find him...," he whispers, his head starting to hurt a little, but all the pain is sharpening his senses, "i hit my head pretty good. i'm pretty sure i might have a concussion. harry's leg was very swollen when... when i woke up the first time. he was carrying me... i'll... i'll talk to you about what's happened later. i don't wanna talk about it right now," he says, and jesy starts to say something as soon as he's finished. 

"woke up for the second time? how many times were you unconscious? a concussion? where are you? your mum called me in hysterics, said you had called her - but she wouldn't tell me what happened, she just said you needed help. but i think we know, because we could... we called zayn and had him watch the car's dashboard camera. after that, me and leigh called a whole bunch of local restaurants to get them to try and find you, but nobody got back to us...," she whispers, and louis can imagine how traumatic this must have been for her - the girl who freaks out if he's 3 minutes late to getting home. 

"um, it's a restaurant i think... they broke their table to carry harry on... the woman who owns it was just in here, she said the name of the place was 17black?," he says, purposefully avoiding the questions she had about him being unconscious or hurt. 

"okay, yeah, they're between ethster's bakery and the old pharmacy," jesy says with a small sniffle, obviously relieved by the news of louis and harry's safety. "listen, lou, the storm will be over tomorrow. me and leigh will ask to borrow mr chinn's snowmobile thingy and we'll get you and harry to the hospital. okay? will you be okay there?," she asks, and the woman from a few minutes ago enters the room, her lips pursed. 

"yeah - yeah... listen i gotta go, jesy," he murmurs, blindly pressing his numb fingers onto the phone until it hangs up, his eyes. not leaving the woman's grave expression. "how is he?," he asks as soon as his throat opens up a little. 

the lady's lips twitch a little, and louis can hear her sigh. "he's asking to see you..."

part eighteen

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"thank-you," louis says with a little cough as the woman drapes a thick blanket over his shoulders, which have started to shake again. he doesn't get a response, she just gives him a tight smile and beacons him to follow her, kindly staying at a slow pace that way he can keep up with her on his wobbly legs. 

he has to use all of his strength to propel himself forward, and he realizes that his shoes have been removed, he can feel the cold tiles on his severely frost bitten feet. with furrowed eyebrows, he moves the blanket a little to look at his toes and blanches. they are dark purple and shriveled up. he nearly faints right there, but he makes his head rise and he tries to focus on walking, trying not to think what his fingers might look like. 

"he's in there, with my brothers. we put him by the open oven to try to warm him up since he was so much worse then you," says the nameless woman and wow that sounds promising. "do you need any help walking?," she asks, noticing how pale and frail louis looks. 

he just shakes his head though, and makes hand gestures for her to keep walking, "he said he wanted to see me?," he asks, and the lady nods, weaving them around tables, towards a red door with a square glass window. "how long has he been awake?," he asks, limping a little, tightening the blanket around his shoulders. 

"about five minutes... wouldn't hardly let me little brother look him over, started demanding to see you. figure he remembers how you got that nasty cut on your forehead?," she asks, pushing the door open with her back, nudging her head to the side to gesture louis in. 

" - you can try to stitch it up after you get me louis!," harry cries out, and he's trying to shove two boys away from him as he comes into louis' line of vision, and a relieved sigh leaves his lips at seeing that harry is well enough to at least put up a struggle. "stop!," he cries as one of them touches his ankle, and louis' eyebrows furrow. 

"hey!," he shouts out, hobbling forward, and everyone looks over at him in surprise, harry going from confused to desperate, throwing his arms out for louis, who crosses the room and squats down beside him, collapsing on his weak legs, nuzzling into his neck immediately, comforted by harry wrapping him up in his arms. "you okay?," he whispers, leaning forward to look at harry, blinking in surprise. despite the heat of the oven beside them, his lips and ears are a dark purple shade, his veins are completely visible under his pale skin and his eyes look grey and nearly disoriented as he clutches at louis' shoulders. louis gulps deep in his throat and looks over at the three adults looking over at them, "we need to get him some help. emergency help. i don't care how, he's dying," he says, trying to remain calm, but harry doesn't seem to be fazed by what he's said, too caught up in clinging to louis.

"we can't move him until we get a tourniquet on his ankle," says the tallest of the 3 people, crossing his arms over his chest, giving harry a hard look, which goes unnoticed by the delusional boy, who is looking at louis, his eyes blinking slowly. "he's severed several tendons and i think his ankle bone. it's barely holding on, and i'm pretty sure he has a blood infection. if you could get him to cooperate, i could get a tourniquet and could probably get his condition more stable," says the man, crossing his arms over his chest, giving harry a hard look. 

louis' throat tightens up. a blood infection? "how bad is it? yeah, i'll get him to be still...," louis whispers, clutching harry's hand tighter, trying to divert his attention as the man nods and takes a step forward, still not drawing harry's gaze as he sits down beside his ankle, using a hesitant hand to lift up the flap of his skinny jeans. 

"how bad is it? i... um... this isn't looking very good... okay. we really haven't much time. he's not in the right mind right now, so you're going to have to make the decision. if we don't take action right now, this infection is going to spread up his body and poison his entire nervous system, he'd shut down before anybody could get to him," the man says quickly, looking up at louis, whose spine has straightened. 

"what do you mean by take action - "

"i mean we are going to have to cut the infection off at the root before it spreads. we're going to have to amputate"

"what! what! what?," louis cries, and harry gives a dopey grin, obviously unaware of what's going on around him. "we can't - what?," he adds, clutching harry's hand tighter as the man turns to his siblings. 

"naomi, go bleach and boil one of the meat knives - hurry. austin, i need you to grab me all of our rags and towels and anything we could make a tourniquet with," both of the other two nod quickly and spring into action, ignoring louis as he looks at them in wild fear, eyes wide. 

"meat knife? what are you going to do? you asked me whether or not you should do something!," he cries, clinging to harry with as much strength as he can in his own weak state. 

"okay, kid, decide. let him keep that mess of meat on his leg and let him poison himself, or let me take care of this and potentially save his life? i have some medical training, mate, and this is this is your best hope," says the man, ignoring his brother, austin, as he drops a heap of towels by them, hustling off to find more supplies probably. "take a look at what we're working with," he adds, and louis looks in instinct, his breath gets caught in his throat immediately.

if he thought his feet look bad, harry's look nearly inhuman. they are basically black and purple, sickly yellow beginning to crawl up his leg. it's very gory all together, green puss oozing out, and louis has to look away before he vomits. "o-okay," he chokes, burying his face in harry's neck, violent hiccups tearing through his body.

❁

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vulgar images rip through the darkness of the backs of louis' eyelids as he sits and waits for a doctor to come to him with pain medicines and news on harry. 

they were airlifted to the hospital not 2 hours ago, the girl from 17black, naomi, had finally been able to get ahold of the emergency workers, and unlike when harry called the first time, they actually showed up. 

and boy did they show up. even harry, in his thoughtless mind, looked around when the loud sound of helicopter wings chopping through the air above them got too loud to ignore. there wasn't anywhere to land the chopper, so they had to send paramedics down from the sky and load harry and louis up on beds, one by one, and lift them up into the freezing cold sky, and into the helicopter, taking off when they insured that they got everyone that needed help. 

and, in the warm hospital room, hooked up to several iv bags, all louis has to focus on is the memory of the sickening sound of the knife meeting harry's leg. he shudders violently, and tears collect in his eyes, he begins rocking back and forth a little, pulling his hands through his hair. "sir? are you alright? ready for your medicine?," appears louis' nurse, the same one who has checked on him every 15 minutes for so for the past couple of hours. 

"how's harry?," he asks, the question familiar for the nurse, who has heard it at least 10 times so far. 

"sir. you... you lost two toes yourself. i think you might want to think about yourself for just a second. are you in pain? i need to replace your heating pads, too," she says, moving things on her cart, and louis blushes, wincing as he removes the room temperature heated pads from his armpits, handing them to her, hesitantly reaching into his pants to get that one, too, handing it to her gloved hand without making eye contact. "do you want me to help you place these?," she asks, showing him the fresh ones. 

"i think i remember the tutorial from earlier," he huffs, taking them from her with shaking hands, and he has half a mind to tell her to turn around as he places one of them on his groin - which is apparently protocol for moderate hypothermia, then the other two to his arm pits. 

"okay...," the nurse chuckles, nodding her head, "now, how about you take these pills and then i can get you on the humidifier, again?," she asks, and he sighs and holds out his hands for the pills and cup of apple juice, nearly gagging on how big they are. he scowls at the nurse with watering eyes as she hands him his face mask again, helping him get the mask over his head before flipping the switch so steamy air comes through, warming up his internal organs. "i'll bring news on your friend next time i see you, i'm sure," she smiles at him reassuringly, pushing the cart in front of her, and louis blinks as she shuts the light off and closes the door after her.

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"hey, love," harry barely gets out before louis is sobbing, his eyes clinched shut as he watches harry's face contort in confusion and concern. "what's wrong? c'mere, sweets, you won't hurt me," he says, and louis looks up at his nurse to help him out of his wheelchair, his therapy making his legs too weak to support his weight. "there you go," he chuckles as louis gets settled beside him, trying to wrap his arms around him without pulling any of his numerous wire and pipes going in through his nose and arms. 

"hey...," louis whispers, sniffling lightly, trying not to cry too hard and jostle harry. "how do you feel? they wouldn't tell me," louis scowls at the nurse as she closes the door after herself, leaving the two of them alone. 

harry shrugs, and louis' head moves with it. "i'm on about ten different medicines, i have infinite numbers of needles inside of me right now, one that leads to my heart, and, um, i lost a foot? apparently? but i'm actually okay. i can't feel anything. how about you? how is your forehead? i'm sorry for all of this...," he says with a whisper, sighing quietly. "who would've imagined it could end up like this?," he asks with a wet chuckle, and louis gnaws on his bottom lip.

"we should... try again? not until you're better... but still... maybe check the weather first?," louis rolls his eyes, and the only sound in the room is the beeping of harry's machines. 

until harry speaks up: "knock, knock," he grins, dopily. 

"harry...," louis groans, which only makes harry laugh, his grin spreading farther up his face. 

"knock, knock," he says more instantly. 

"who's there?," louis rolls his eyes, a grin coming onto his own face. 

"go on a date with me," harry smirks, laughing, and louis chuckles quietly, nodding his head, deciding that heavily medicated and loopy harry is much better than what he previously was.

 

⚥

 

“she’ll love you, baby, quit fidgeting, please,” harry chuckles fondly, grabbing louis’ hands as he starts to fiddle with how his dress is situated on his body. his comforting only gets him a scowl and eye roll. “i’m serious, lou, she’s going to love you,” he adds, pulling louis into his chest, kissing his forehead. he doesn’t know if he should regret telling louis that his mum was coming down, but it’s too late now. he would be meeting her, regardless.

 

louis scoffs, tucking his head under harry’s chin. “what if she doesn’t, though? what if she thinks that I’m... weird?," he whispers, memories of all of his mental breakdowns playing in his mind. he really can’t have that right now, not at this dinner. “harry, she’s flying all the way up from kansas to be here, to see you — what makes you think she’s interested in seeing me?,” he asks, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist.

 

it’s been a little over 7 months since the car accident that cost harry a foot and louis 2 toes, and harry’s mum has just roused up enough money to fly from the states, over to the uk. louis still fells bad, because when they were in the hospital, he had an arsenal of visitors: jesy, leigh-anne, ashton, his mum and his 6 siblings at his hospital door. and harry had calum and zayn, with the occasional michael and perrie. and he was much worse than louis — he had to stay in the hospital for nearly over a month.

 

after what felt like an excruciating amount of time, but was only about 2 weeks, he was able to be with louis in his room for extended amounts of time. which meant he also got louis’ visitors. which also meant ashton. which meant a clingy and possessive harry who wouldn’t move his arm from his shoulder, kissing his hair whenever he got the chance.

 

he hasn’t gotten over that yet, the clinginess, and it’ll have been a year in 5 months. “of course she’ll want to see you, she didn’t save up for this long to not meet you,” harry rolls his eyes, “i just wish she would’ve taken some of the money i offered her. it's from my dad's paycheck... but she doesn't know that,” he chuckles, and louis cracks a little grin, pulling away from harry a little to kiss his jaw before stepping away completely, making harry pout.

 

placing his hands on his hips, he looks up at harry, pursing his lips. “okay… well if i’ve gotta be there, i have to clean up a little,” he points out, his eyebrows furrowed and harry’s rolling his eyes now, obviously wanting to give the ‘you-don’t-need-to-clean-up’ card, but louis holds out an extended hand and harry – grudgingly – lets himself be led through louis and jesy’s flat and into the toilet, clumsily plopping down on the side of the bath tub — still not used to the prosthetic foot — as louis pulls out his make-up bag from under the sink. “mm… what time is she suppose to be here?,” he asks, harry settling on the cold surface of the tub.

 

this has become their thing; louis doing his make-up while harry sits on the tub and keeps him company, maybe adjusting how the foot attaches to his leg. “we’ve got to meet her at the airport in fourty-five minutes to pick her up. then we’re going to go out and eat… use the candy floss colored one?,” harry suggests absently as louis uncaps a lipstick, and louis smiles at him through the reflections in the mirror. harry always requests that he wear that color. “and maybe just a light mascara. and that wing-thingy you did with your liquid eye stuff?,” he adds, and louis’ lips become a flat line to keep himself from bursting out in laughter. “what?,”harry huffs in defense, crossing his arms over his chest, pouting, making louis lean forward and dab a little bit of the pink lip stain onto his lip, causing him to blink in surprise, then look at louis crossly.

 

louis giggles, turning back to the mirror as harry wipes the lipstick off. “nothing, nothing... but… say; if you’re such a master at fashion, why don’t you go pick me a pair of shoes out to match this dress,” he requests, using his thumb to direct harry to the large shoe pile that is spilling out of the closet in the toilet room. louis pats his bum as he walks by, slumped a little, and grins at his scowl. “and no heels! don’t want to fall and look like a fool,” he says with the sudden thought, and harry looks at him incredulously.

 

　

 

“lou. you can run in heels. i doubt you’d fall. but... these would look really good with that dress… since it’s completely black," harry suggests, holding up a holographic doc martin with black shoelaces. they cost louis over £200 and he hasn’t even wore them yet. “where did you buy them, anyways?,” he asks, looking at how it changes color in light as louis applies a little mascara to his left eye, his hands shaking a little — they never really lost the light tremor that he got from the accident.

 

“jesy and our friend leslie talked me into buying them, like, thirty years ago,” he says, contorting his face as he tries to coat his eyelashes as well as he can, hollowing his cheeks out.

 

 

“you’re only twenty-two,” harry rolls his eyes, and louis moves the brush away from his eye to turn and grin at harry, making a funny face. “ha-ha, you’re so funny…,” he scoffs, picking up the matching shoe to the one in his hand before putting his prosthetic foot flat on the ground, using the door handle to support himself as he stands up, dusting off his bum. “but, seriously, these shoes are so cool,” he says, and louis nods in agreement, and harry kisses his cheek as he sets the shoes on the sink.

 

“i’d hope they were cool. cost a fortune…,” he laughs quietly, blinking his eyes quickly to try and get his eyelashes to not feel so clumped up. “good choice, by the way, babes, I think they do go very good with this dress. thank-you for buying it for me, by the way…,” he blushes, ducking his head a little as harry coos at him. “don’t patronize me, styles,” he huffs, swatting at harry’s chest as the taller boy leans down to kiss his ear.

 

“i’m not patronizing you. you just don’t gotta keep saying thank-you for it. it was a six month-aversary,” he points out, “you got me something, too”

 

that makes louis groan again. he possibly got him the lamest gift ever. “yeah, a car sticker…,” he mutters, and harry groans.

 

“it is sentimental. very little often have I ever gotten a car sticker of a cowboy in lingerie,” harry points out, and just like every time it’s been brought up, he has to desperately try to control his laughter. but that just makes louis huff, crossing his arm,s over his chest as he stares up at harry, pouting.

 

“the order said that it was a cowboy with the date we became official on it…,” he scoffs, and harry has to contain his laughter again.

 

“it actually does have the date on it…,” harry points out, and louis’ face flushes red, and he buries his face in his hands, a few giggle slipping out.

 

“yeah, but it didn’t say that it’d be on the crotch…

 

❁

 

❁

 

❁

 

 

“look out for a woman with dark black hair. she said she’s wearing cover-alls and a red scarf,” harry says, nudging louis a little as he hold the sign up that is for his mum, it says ‘her majesty anne twist’ written in big black letters, and louis gets the idea that harry and his mum are very close. he can also tell by the look of excitement on his face. how he can’t seem to stand still, even though standing still is the easier option for him now. “she told me that her flight had already touched down, that she was at baggage…,” he peters off, pursing his lips, leaning on louis a little as he looks over his head.

 

they stand there for a little while longer, both looking around in determination, and they’re so focused that they don’t notice the beautiful woman stalk over to them, trying to be sneaky. but they do notice when she makes a loud ‘rah!’ sound, making them both scream out and jump in surprise. “gottcha!,” anne hoots, and harry’s face breaks a little, and he dives into his mum’s open arms, wrapping his large arms around her small neck, and they rock each other back and forth a little, and louis nearly coos at how damn adorable that is. “you’ve got so tall…,” anne remarks, stroking at her son’s back, “you need a hair cut,” she adds, and louis covers his mouth with his hands to keep from laughing, but that only succeeds in catching anne’s attention, and she leans away from harry a little to get a look at the boy in front of her, and louis’ heart drops in fear as she pats harry’s arm and steps towards louis, looking him up and down, as if assessing him. “I really like your shoes,” is all she says before she wraps her arms around his neck, doing the same sway movement she did with harry as louis returns the hug.

 

“t-thank you, mrs. twist,” she stammers as she pulls away from hi, too, adjusting her scarf around her neck, grinning widely, rolling her eyes.

 

“am i going to have to do the whole cliché ‘don’t-call-me-mrs.-twist-call-me-anne’-thing?,” she asks with raised eyebrows, and louis finally cracks a relieved grin, comforted by the gentle, kind look in her eyes — the same one that she seems to have passed down onto harry. “okay, then… hello, love, I’m anne. you are?,” she asks, even though she is well aware of who this is.

 

louis looks over at harry, and the taller boy gives him a sweet smile, walking towards him to wrap him in his arms, “my name’s louis. louis tomlinson. nice to finally meet you, anne,” he says, fiddling with the bottom of his dress, and he leans into harry a little, so, so, so relieved. “do you want me to get your bag for you? you and harry could use some catching up,” he offers, but harry jumps on it before anne can even reply.

 

“absolutely not. i’ll take that, my lovely mother. you, my love, shall carry the sign,” harry says dramatically, scooping the heavy suitcase from beside his mother’s feet, leaning up to hand louis the identification sign. if it was anybody else, that might have been a bit condescending, but louis sighs in content, knowing that harry is just an all around gent. “and where, on this glorious day, should we go out to eat?,” he asks, looking between anne and louis.

 

“i don’t know this area,” anne says as soon as she realizes that the question was sort of aimed at her. “why don’t we have lou decide?,” she recommends, and louis answers before he even thinks about it.

 

⚥

"so...," anne says around a bite of anchovy pizza, covering her mouth with her hand as she chews, looking between harry and louis, "how have you been?," she asks, and harry and louis exchange a glance. 

"uh...," harry shrugs, swallowing his own bite of pizza, "i've sort of moved in with lou and his roommate, jesy - even though i still have my flat in brighton - and louis' recently finished his therapy," he smiles proudly over at louis, who blushes and rolls his eyes. 

"act like my therapy was such a big deal. you're the one who goes three days a week," he says modestly, nudging harry with his shoulder, bringing his hand up to move his hair from his face. 

"but you're there with me - everyday. and you're graduating next month! juggling a footless boyfriend while still getting a college education. he's a wonder, mum," harry declares, and louis scoffs at him, trying to keep his impending graduation at the back of his mind. 

"oh? how's uni life treating you, then? i imagine it's changed since i was in," she asks, tearing off another bite of pizza.

"we've sort of achieved a celebrity status. everyone knows us as the couple who lost feet during the blizzard," he rolls his eyes, and louis bites his lip, trying to remain neutral. they do call them that... but they call them a lot of other things, too. 

"i didn't lose my whole foot...," louis tries to joke, wedging himself into the conversation from where he had been trying to be as quiet as possible. harry seems to notice what he's doing, because he grins wider, and louis melts. which anne seems to notice, because she smiles a little, her kind eyes soft.

"yeah, and good that. you wear heels - mum, have i told you that lou can run in heels?," harry asks excitedly, and louis blushes as anne nods like she's heard about it a million times (she has). "oh... well he can! and he can do winged eye makeup whatever and walk at the same time without bumping into anything. majestic," harry says, nudging louis' jaw with his nose, and louis smiles, intertwining their hands under the table.

anne smiles knowingly at them, but neither boy notices her, too caught up in each other, fiddling with their fingers, feet intertwining under the table. they're in love, she inwardly croons, my baby's in love! "so, louis," she says, still smiling widely, "what are you going to uni for?," she asks, and louis and harry look up at her. 

"er, i originally went in for theater, but i've changed my major to english and french literature," he says, and anne raises her eyebrows, intrigued. 

"you speak french?," she asks, looking over at harry, who looks absolutely smitten. 

"oui madame," he smiles, shrugging a little, "y un poco de español," he adds, then blushes and giggles at anne's confused facial expression. "i said 'and a little spanish'," he explains, smirking a little as harry rubs up and down his arm, obviously effected by hearing him speaking other languages.

anne nods, impressed, "multilingual? where did you learn so many languages?," she asks, taking a sip of her steaming tea. 

"i was in an foreign exchange program in grade 9 and grade 11. it looks great on an application," he chuckles, reminiscing on all the days he spent roaming madrid with his spanish host family, the sanchezes, and going to the eiffle tower with his french host family, the barbieries. "i still talk to my friends josé and juanita sanchez and leonardo barbieri from time to time, but we can't really call... foreign fees and all," he sighs, taking a bite from his salad.

"harry, didn't you have a french friend in grade school? i can remember you talking about how thick his accent was?," she asks, and harry nods a little.

"hanz? i think his name was hanz. he was german," harry chuckles, pushing his plate away from him, completely full. "are you both done?," he asks, noticing how anne has moved onto just sipping her tea, and how louis is just nibbling on his lettuce.

both nod, looking at their empty plates, and harry flags the waitress with purple hair, perrie, and she bustles over to them quickly, notebook in hand. "can i help you? refills?," she asks, and harry shakes his head, pulling his wallet out of his pants, "ready for your bill?," she decides with a smile, and harry nods, "okay, sir, i'll be right back with it," she nods, rushing off to the counter as harry puts the wallet on the table.

"what are we going to do after this?," harry asks, running his thumb over the back of louis' hand, looking at his mum.

"well...," anne chuckles, "i don't know about you two, but i just got off a sixteen hour flight. i think i'm going to go to my hotel and i'm going to sleep until i can't sleep anymore. i'll see you for supper?," she asks, pulling her phone out to contact a taxi.

"sure... why don't i make it? we can come to my place, it hasn't been used in several days," harry suggests, and louis perks up at that. he loves going to harry's house, it's cute and very country-esque. very harry.

"sounds good for me. louis will be there, i'm assuming?," she smiles, and harry nods, settling his arm over louis' shoulders, making the tinier man blush. "alright. i'll pay you back for the meal once i've exchanged my money for pounds," she offers, and harry scowls at her.

"don't be ridiculous," he huffs a laugh, and anne rolls her eyes at him, typing in her location for the online taxi service. "what time will the taxi be here? i could just drive you," he offers, but anne waves him off.

"this says it'll be here in about ten minutes. why don't you show me around the mall while we wait?," she asks as perrie brings the bill.

❁

❁

❁

"does calum still live with you?," anne ask as they pass a store called column's, and she remembers the asian looking kid that harry roomed with.

"uh, no... he moved out a while ago. our friends michael and niall were having financial problems a d wouldn't accept our help since we didn't live with them, so calum decided to move in with them," he chuckles, remembering how wild that time in their life was, "niall actually works here. at glover's. he's going into medicine"

anne makes a quiet noise of contemplation, noticing the glover's pharmacy sign. "well lead the way, i don't think i've met niall yet," she smiles, looking around the mall excitedly. louis wonders how much the woman misses england.

"let's make sure he's not too busy before we start harassing him on the job," harry chuckles, pulling louis by the hand as they cross the mall to the corner pharmacy that is tucked between a sports store and a chocolate store. this little square of the mall must be niall's heaven. 

"i think he said he gets off around six," louis says, and they can immediately see the blonde boy through the window of the pharmacy, talking to a very tall and scruffy looking brunette boy. 

even though harry said they wouldn't bother the boy if he was busy, he leads louis and his mum through the door anyways. " ─ like your doctor said, these will only work if you take it easy," niall is saying to the man, who nods, sighing quietly. "i'm no doctor, mr. payne, but i'm just saying... taking fewer hours at the factory might help you. as well as not volunteering as much. firefighting can take a toll on muscles if not cared for carefully," he recommends, looking over the man's shoulder, catching glance of the little gang. 

"airplanes aren't going to build themselves, mr. horan," jokes the tall bloke, and niall rolls his eyes, handing him a bag that rattles from the pills inside. "thanks, mate," he chuckles, and niall nods with a crooked smile, but he squeaks in warning as the man suddenly turns around to leave and slams right into louis, barely catching himself before they both fall over. "sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry─," he repeats in a mantra, setting louis right side up, blinking several times in embarrassment as harry pulls him to his chest. "i am so sorry," he breathes, his cheeks turning red.

the man turns to scowl at niall as the irish man starts to laugh extremely loud, bringing attention to them. "good god, thanks. i needed a laugh," he snorts, his eyes nearly shut with how big he's smiling. 

"glad i'm of amusement...," the boy blushes harder, turning to look at harry and louis sheepishly, "sorry again..."

"louis and harry," niall introduces, "this is my mate and client liam payne. liam payne, this is my mates harry styles and louis tomlinson. but i don't know who this beautiful young teenager is," he says, referring to anne, who rolls her eyes at him with a little, humorous smirk. 

"horan," harry says, "this is my mum"

that makes niall blush and clam up, and liam, louis, and anne start to laugh at his blunder, while harry scowls at the poor boy. "grow up...," he huffs with an embarrassed laugh. 

"me?," liam chokes on a laugh, thoroughly enjoying this show of karma, "act my age?"

"please. no control. we're in a place of business," he points out, looking around to make sure his boss isn't around, and everyone quiets down, looking guilty. "at least i get out of here in about thirty minutes...," he sighs, and harry gets an idea. 

"why don't you come over to mine tonight, too? i'm cooking dinner for my mum's first night here," he offers, and niall looks over at liam. 

"i think we were going to go out for pizza later," he says. 

"you two could both come over? i'll make some green-beans," he bribes niall's favorite food, and the boy looks over at liam, who shrugs in agreement. 

"sounds good. don't forget the beans, styles," niall threatens as anne's phone chimes, signaling that the cabbie is nearly there.

"alright, horan, be there or be square," he waves, leading louis and anne out, only to be stopped right as they get out of the door by louis getting slammed into by yet another person. only this one doesn't apologize profusely like liam. when louis looks up, his throat dries. it's the woman from forever 21. 

"ew," shudders the girl, under her breath, noticing who she slammed into, and louis deflates, tears welling in his eyes automatically. 

"hey," harry bites, pulling louis closer to him, hiding him in his shoulder, "please don't be rude," he says, trying his best to not snap at her again. not that it matters, because the girl just rolls her eyes anyway. 

harry is about to just walk away, be the bigger person, when his mum steps forward, right into the cashier girl's face, the epitome of anger. "listen here, love. unlike you, he has a raising. do not disrespect him, and do not respect his boyfriend. just because you don't understand them, does not mean you should judge and belittle them. have some respect and take your knock-off coach covered foot out of your mouth," she snaps, not raising or quavering her voice once, leading a surprised harry and louis away from an even more stunned girl.


End file.
